Right-Wing Challenge to Nevada County Voter Rolls Dismissed

A Nevada judge dismissed a right-wing lawsuit challenging the maintenance of voter rolls in Washoe County, Nevada.
In an opinion issued Monday, Judge Connie Steinheimer said the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the case in the first place.
Right-wing organization Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) and a voter filed the lawsuit in May 2024 after allegedly discovering nearly 50 commercial addresses listed in the Washoe County voter rolls. In their complaint against Washoe County interim register Carrie-Ann Burgess, the plaintiffs argued the addresses violated a state law that requires voters to provide a residential address when they register to vote. They asked the court to order Burgess to investigate the commercial addresses.
Burgess and Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar (D), who intervened in the case, argued that the plaintiffs were trying to circumvent the official voter challenge process. An investigation into the addresses, they argued, has the effect of a voter challenge and could result in voters being removed from the rolls. But effective voter challenges must be based on reasonable and reliable information, which Burgess and Aguilar claimed the plaintiffs could not meet, and so the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit seeking the same result. They also argued the plaintiffs had no standing.
PILF is one of the most prolific conservative legal groups in the election litigation space today. It sues state and local governments to purge registered voters from their election rolls, bar noncitizens from voting and defend voter suppression laws. It makes claims of mass voter fraud and harnesses media attention to sow doubt in the election process. During the 2023-2024 election cycle, PILF was involved in at least eight voting rights lawsuits seeking to purge voters or access voter rolls.