185 noncitizen voters flagged by Trump admin in Nevada are likely citizens, state says

Nevada officials say there's no evidence to support the Trump administration's claims that 185 noncitizens could be on the state's voter rolls, saying "our records indicate that they were citizens."

"You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise," Greg Ott, a deputy attorney general, wrote in a letter Wednesday to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials obtained through a public records request. Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar also acknowledged that because of limited information provided to state election officials, it's possible they are not looking at the same people as DHS.

It's the latest development in communications between Nevada election officials and the Trump administration, which is actively seeking out evidence of noncitizens voting and registering in elections despite it being extremely rare. After originally claiming up to 16,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in Nevada, federal officials backed down and revised their estimate to 185.

Since then, state officials asked for more information on these voters, such as their name, date of birth and address. But the Trump administration has only provided "voter case numbers," which are identifiers that connect to a person's registration record, according to the letter.

However, multiple Nevada voters could have the same identifying number because the state recently moved from a new statewide voter registration and management system, shifting away from a bottom-up county-led system. As a result, someone in Clark County could have the same number as someone in Elko County — and without more information about the voter, there would be no way to distinguish them.

When state election officials received the list of voter numbers flagged as possible noncitizens, it checked voters' registration records, including the type of ID included in their registration application, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said in an interview Thursday. 

It found that none of these people had evidence of being noncitizens, but without more information from the Trump administration, there is not 100 percent certainty that both sides are looking at the same people given the potential for more than one voter to have the same identifying number.

"Our records do not support DHS's claims, and DHS has still not provided evidence to change that," Aguilar, a Democrat, said in a statement. "Instead, DHS officials continue their attempts to intimidate election officials into compliance and deter voters with huge claims of fraud with no evidence. Repeating unsupported claims does not make them true."

DHS did not immediately respond to a question about why it has not provided more voter information to state officials. It did not answer a similar question from KTNV but said in a statement that it "is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found. We have repeatedly demonstrated that illegal aliens can and do vote in our elections."

The New York Times first reported that Nevada officials had found no evidence to support the Trump administration's claims. 

With less than six weeks until the November election, the Trump administration is focusing on rooting out noncitizens on voter rolls — an unprecedented level of federal involvement in state-run elections. 

Axios reported this week that a Justice Department official described it as a "a top priority for the attorney general and for the White House." The administration is also deploying hundreds of investigators and attorneys to help root out noncitizen voting, and 160 people nationwide have been arrested for voter fraud, according to Axios.

A whistleblower recently alleged federal agents might have broken the law by posing as individuals when using public-facing websites to find a person's voting history. Nevada's website for people to look up their voter registration now has a disclaimer noting it is only for that purpose.

Noncitizen voting remains rare. In July, New Jersey removed 6,600 noncitizens from voter rolls after a software glitch, and an initial investigation found 400 noncitizens had cast votes. President Donald Trump has used this — often in misleading ways — as evidence of widespread noncitizen voting.

Harmeet Dhillon, an assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division, posted on social media this week that "Nevada rightfully took non-citizens off their voter rolls." But Aguilar told The Indy the state has not specifically taken noncitizens off the voter rolls. It has conducted regular voter roll maintenance, which might have captured noncitizens, but has not specifically targeted noncitizens.

Ott, the deputy attorney general, also wrote in the letter that "Nevada takes allegations of noncitizen voting seriously, but it also has a strong interest in preventing the wrongful disenfranchisement of voters ahead of the fast-approaching 2026 election."