Trump Campaign Sues DNC and Nevada Secretary of State Over Noncitizen Voting
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed their third anti-voting lawsuit in Nevada over the last couple of months, this time accusing the state of not properly removing noncitizens from voter rolls.
The Trump campaign and the RNC, along with the Nevada GOP and a Republican voter, sued Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar (D) for “failing in his list maintenance and investigatory duties to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered and voting in Nevada elections.”
The Republicans also sued the Nevada Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) because this lawsuit “has the potential to harm or [affect] the interests” of the Democratic Party.
The GOP plaintiffs said in their lawsuit that noncitizen voting is a serious issue nationwide and in Nevada. They stated that 3,987 alleged noncitizens voted in the 2020 election in Nevada.
There’s no definitive proof that these people were noncitizens when they voted, but even if all of them were, these voters would’ve only comprised 0.003% of the total votes cast in the state in 2020. Essentially, they wouldn’t have diluted votes or influenced the election results like the Republican plaintiffs claim.
The Republicans asked a state district court to order Aguilar to implement voter roll maintenance that verifies registered voters are U.S. citizens by checking databases from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and other state agencies. They said Aguilar needs to do all of this by the 2024 election, which is only 54 days away.
On Wednesday, the same day the GOP case was filed, Aguilar’s office announced that the state would be adopting a new Voter Registration and Election Management Solution that would help keep voter rolls clean, provide more transparency and modernize the election process.
“All eyes are on Nevada this year – it’s more important than ever that Nevada is at the forefront of election security and transparency,” Aguilar said in a statement. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – Nevada runs some of the most safe, secure and accessible elections in the country. The new voter registration and election management system only enhances those safeguards and increases our transparency.”
This lawsuit is part of a larger effort by Republicans to push a narrative about noncitizens voting en masse, which could sow doubt in the credibility of the 2024 election results. Not only is noncitizen voting already illegal in federal elections, but there is no concrete evidence that noncitizens are voting in larger numbers.
Also, the Trump campaign and the RNC are clearly targeting Nevada, a crucial swing state, in its lawsuits ahead of the upcoming election. They filed lawsuits on May 3 and May 31 targeting the state’s mail-in voting.