Janice R. Andrews
A court in Nevada rejected a lawsuit against six so-called fake electors who claimed that former President Trump had won the state in the 2020 presidential election, marking a significant legal breakthrough. A trial scheduled for January has been postponed after Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus determined on Friday that the lawsuit was filed in the incorrect location by the Nevada attorney general’s office.
Venue Conflict and Case Rejection
Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) of Nevada filed the lawsuit in Clark County, which is home to Las Vegas. Defense counsel countered that it ought to have been filed in a city in northern Nevada that was nearer to the alleged crime scene. Judge Holthus dismissed the lawsuit due to jurisdictional issues as a result of this argument.
Reaction of the Prosecution
A representative for the Nevada attorney general’s office, John Sadler, disagreed with the judge’s ruling and said that an instant appeal will be filed. Defense lawyers stated that the case is essentially “done” notwithstanding the appeal because the three-year statute of limitations expired in December and the state is probably unable to present the case before a grand jury in a different location.
Charges and Accused Electors
Michael McDonald, Jesse Law, Jim DeGraffenreid, Durward James Hindle III, Shawn Meehan, and Eileen Rice were the six pro-Trump electors indicted in the case. They were facing four or five years in jail if found guilty of the felony charge of presenting a fraudulent instrument for filing and uttering a fake document.
Legal Implications and a Wider Context
These people pretended to be “duly qualified” voters in an effort to “disrupt the results of a free and fair presidential election,” according to the state attorney general’s office. The plan was to have slates of Trump-supporting electors in battleground states certified by then-Vice President Mike Pence, rather than the actual Electoral College votes cast for current President Biden. On January 6, 2021, Pence declined to do so, which prompted Trump supporters to storm the Capitol.
Pro-Trump voters have also been charged with crimes in Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona in addition to Nevada. The plan’s architects, several of Trump’s attorneys, are also accused in other jurisdictions. Trump has entered a not guilty plea to charges in Georgia and federal court over his attempts to void the outcome of the 2020 election.
Election Results
In the 2020 election, President Biden prevailed over 33,000 votes in Nevada; this outcome was upheld in spite of the actions of the so-called “fake electors.”
This decision underscores the difficulties with jurisdiction and procedure in instances pertaining to elections and represents a turning point in the continuing judicial disputes around the 2020 election.
