Federal Court Rejects RNC Lawsuit Over Nevada’s Voter Rolls
The Republican National Committee’s attempt to have the state of Nevada purge voters from its rolls will not move forward after a federal court dismissed the case late Tuesday.
The RNC, the Nevada Republican Party and a voter alleged that Nevada’s voter registration records are “inaccurate” and “bloated with ineligible voters” in violation of the National Voter Registration Act. Although the parties requested an order requiring Nevada to develop and implement a new list maintenance program, the court declined to order one. The judge gave the RNC two weeks to file a new complaint after finding that the committee’s first complaint was deficient for several reasons.
Ensuring voters will not be wrongfully purged from the rolls ahead of 2024 will be a key concern for pro-democracy groups as the right continues a relentless legal effort to either make vote records publicly available or purge voters from state’s voter rolls.
Pro-democracy groups including Rise Action Fund, the Institute for a Progressive Nevada and the Nevada Alliance for Retired Americans quickly intervened in the case and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. The Democratic National Committee filed a “friend of the court” brief also asking for the case to be dismissed arguing that the RNC ”resurrected that failed strategy by preemptively filing lawsuits like this one around the country, challenging voter registration list maintenance programs based on flawed interpretations of the National Voter Registration Act… and obviously erroneous data.”
The RNC has filed a similar lawsuit in Michigan and other right-wing legal groups are currently responsible for 16 other active lawsuits targeting voter rolls across the country. The RNC has made Nevada a target this election cycle and has already filed three anti-voting lawsuits in the state.