Trump camp files voting lawsuit in Nevada (Update)

In a move seen as laying the groundwork for further legal challenges should the vote turn out to be close in Nevada, the Trump campaign has sued the registrar of voters in Clark County. The dispute is over a polling place near Las Vegas that the lawsuit claims was kept open several hours past closing time last Friday. From CNBC:

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The suit, filed in state court, claims people who were not in line when polls closed at some Las Vegas locations were able to vote on Friday. Nevada law allows people already waiting when the polls close to cast ballots.

Dan Kulin, a spokesman for Clark County, disputes that anything illegal took place. He tells NBC News, “Nothing happened that wasn’t supposed to happen. Voters who were in line by the scheduled closing time were allowed to vote.” Nevertheless, Trump’s camp is asking that ballots from that specific polling location remain isolated. CNN reports:

“From the polling, it appears that Nevada is so close that the Trump campaign thinks it’s worth challenging any violation in voting protocol. The numbers that came in could represent several thousand people across the four precincts, which could determine who wins the electoral college vote or change the Senate race,” said Robert Lang of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He said the Trump campaign is “smart to put a marker down for a future challenge, considering what happened in 2000 in Florida.”

On Saturday Michael McDonald, chairman of the Republican Party in Nevada, told an audience at a Trump rally, “Last night, in Clark County, they kept a poll open ’til 10 o’clock at night so a certain group could vote.” When Trump took the podium at the same rally he echoed McDonald’s concern saying, “It’s being reported that certain key Democratic polling locations in Clark County were kept open for hours and hours beyond closing time to bus and bring democratic voters in. Folks, it’s a rigged system.”

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This CNN report reaffirms the lawsuit is about positioning the campaign for a challenge in case the vote in Nevada is close:

Update: At a hearing today over the lawsuit, the judge took offense at the request from the Trump campaign. The judge also refused a request by the Trump camp to make the names of poll workers public on the grounds that they would be subject to harassment:

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Jazz Shaw 9:20 AM | April 19, 2024
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