Nevada judge dismisses 2020 fake electors forgery case

A Clark County judge has dismissed forgery charges against six Nevada Republicans accused of submitting a fraudulent certificate that falsely declared Donald Trump the winner of the state's 2020 presidential election. The ruling by Judge Mary Kay Holthus marks another setback in efforts to hold participants in the fake elector scheme accountable, following similar dismissals in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia.

The defendants, including Nevada Republican Party chair Michael McDonald and former Clark County GOP chair Jesse Law, faced charges of forgery and offering a false instrument for filing. Prosecutors argued they knowingly submitted documents purporting to cast Nevada's electoral votes for Trump, even though Joe Biden had won the state by a narrow margin. The group gathered publicly outside the state legislature in December 2020 to sign the certificate, which was never accepted by state or federal authorities.

Holthus ruled that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence of intent to defraud. She noted the defendants did not conceal their actions and that the certificate could not have been legally recorded, making it unlikely they sought to deceive officials into treating it as valid. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat running for governor, announced plans to appeal the decision, describing the dismissal as premature and vowing to continue pursuing the case.

The Nevada case is part of a broader pattern across swing states where Republican allies of Trump attempted to create alternate slates of electors after his loss. In Arizona, Attorney General Kris Mayes dismissed her office's initial charges but indicated she would seek a new indictment through a grand jury. Cases in Michigan and Georgia have also collapsed amid legal challenges, leaving few successful prosecutions despite extensive documentation of the coordinated effort to keep Trump in office.

Critics of the dismissals argue that the public nature of the actions does not erase the intent behind them. The certificates were part of a national strategy promoted by Trump and his allies to pressure lawmakers and disrupt the certification of Biden's victory. In Nevada, the six Republicans signed documents claiming to be the state's legitimate electors, directly contradicting certified results from state officials.

Ford's office brought the charges in late 2023 after an investigation into the scheme. The defendants pleaded not guilty, maintaining their actions were a lawful protest against perceived irregularities in the election. Holthus previously dismissed the case on venue grounds before the Nevada Supreme Court reinstated it, setting the stage for the latest ruling on the merits.

The outcome leaves open questions about accountability for efforts to challenge certified election results through unofficial channels. With Ford's appeal pending, the legal process in Nevada is far from concluded, even as parallel cases in other states continue to stall.