UPDATE Dec. 9, 2020
The Nevada Supreme Court quickly and tersely tossed the appeal, noted below, by Nevada Republicans seeking to overturn Judge Russell’s decision last week. The Supreme Court last night, in a unanimous decision by six judges, affirmed the GOP plaintiffs provided no substantial evidence of voter fraud.
It’s the latest loss in dozens of attempts by Trump and his supporters around the country seeking to alter the results of the 2020 election by alleging the election was “stolen.”
Biden secured Nevada’s electoral votes after a lead of more than 33,000 votes.
A ruling Friday in Nevada’s First Judicial District Court again dismissed claims by President Trump supporters that there was election fraud in Nevada. It was one of six election dispute cases brought by the Trump campaign or its supporters defeated across six states on Friday.
Judge James Russell ruled plaintiffs “failed to meet their burden to provide credible and relevant evidence to substantiate any of the grounds set forth in [Nevada law] to contest the November 3, 2020 General Election.”
His 35-page ruling dismissed the case and ordered plaintiffs to pay defendants’ attorney fees. The ruling is similar to others around the country Trump and his supporters attempting to change the outcome of the election.
“Again and again, judges, including conservatives and Mr. Trump’s own appointees, have rejected the president’s attempts to throw out millions of votes in order to cling to power,” the Financial Times reported Friday. “He has had just one win in a minor case concerning a small number of ballots.”
Russell repeatedly wrote in his ruling that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate or prove that illegal or improper votes were cast.
He wrote the words “contestants did not prove…” at least 24 times. He also said the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses had faulty methodologies.
“The Court finds that expert testimony provided by Contestants was of little to no value,” Russell said. “The record does not support a finding that, as Contestants allege, 500 votes were illegal or improper because they were cast by deceased voters.”
Nevada Republicans said they disagreed with the ruling and will appeal to the state supreme court.
No evidence of wrongdoing in Tribal vote efforts
One of the claims made by plaintiffs Jesse Law, Michael McDonald, James Degraffenreid, Durward Hindle, Eileen Rice and Shawn Meehan was that Indigenous Americans in Nevada were “linked to the Biden-Harris campaign [and] offered or gave, directly or indirectly, anything of value to manipulate votes…” Russell wrote.
He was referencing social media posts by the Nevada Native Vote Project and Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, which organized voter drives.
“The record does not support a finding that NNVP or any other group or individual engaged in voting drives acted on behalf of Defendants or President-elect Biden,” the judge said. “The record also does not support a finding that any group or individual offered anything of value to voters to manipulate the voters’ choice for president.”
