Indy Elections: What comes next after Nevada indicted its fake electors
Indy Elections is The Nevada Independent’s newsletter devoted to comprehensive and accessible coverage of the 2024 elections, from the race for the White House to the bid to take control of the Legislature.
In today’s edition: Last week, almost three years after six Nevada Republicans filed a fake slate of presidential electors, a grand jury indicted all six. But why did it take so long — and what comes next? Plus, we look back at a busy week of news in the Lightning Round.
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Days until:
- Nevada presidential primary: 56
- GOP presidential caucus: 58
- Election Day: 329
What we know (and don’t know) about the NV GOP fake elector indictments
By Tabitha Mueller
Almost three years after the fact, Attorney General Aaron Ford announced the indictments of the six individuals last week involved in the effort to send fake electoral votes to Congress as part of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
The indictments are Ford's first formal move to bring a case to trial surrounding the so-called “false electors.” His office had scheduled a press conference to discuss the indictments last week, but it was canceled in light of the on-campus shooting at UNLV.
That press conference has been rescheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Below, we look at what we know (and don’t know) about the indictments and the timing of the case.
Why are they called fake electors, and what did they actually do?
President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in Nevada by 2.4 percentage points in the 2020 election. Under the Electoral College system, that meant Nevada’s six electoral votes (tied to the size of the state’s congressional delegation) would be cast in favor of Biden.
As Nevada’s actual electors cast their ballots for President Joe Biden on Dec. 14, 2020, six Republican Party electors held a separate ceremony outside the Legislative Building in Carson City, purporting to sign documents to “cast” their votes for Trump, whose campaign had filed numerous legal challenges seeking to reverse the results of the election in Nevada based on unfounded accusations of large-scale voter fraud.
The group of six Republicans submitted the fraudulent election documents to state and national officials, including the National Archives, referring to themselves as the “duly elected and qualified electors” in the paperwork.
The submission came as part of a coordinated move with slates of so-called fake electors in other states and Trump’s presidential campaign as they tried to block Congress’ certification of the election results on Jan. 6, 2021.
Who are the six people who were indicted, and who indicted them?
A grand jury in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County indicted (brought formal charges against) the six fake electors — Nevada GOP party Chair Michael McDonald, national committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, Clark County Republican Party chair Jesse Law (who announced plans to run for Assembly on Wednesday), state party Vice Chair Jim Hindle III, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice.
During a grand jury, a prosecutor presents evidence to the jury members via witnesses and documents. Defendants usually do not testify during the process or respond to the evidence provided and jury members decide via a majority vote whether to issue an indictment.
Typically, grand jurors hand down an indictment, but the law does require members to find probable cause that a crime was committed — while in a criminal trial, a guilty verdict requires finding that a defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, a much higher legal standard.
Click here to read the grand jury indictment.
What are the charges?
The charges brought against the fake electors for submitting fraudulent documents to state and federal officials are for a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument. The charges carry penalties of category C and D felonies, respectively, with punishments up to a maximum of four and five years in prison and a minimum of one year in prison.
It’s unclear why Ford brought the charges three years later. Under Nevada law, any charge for filing false documents must come within three years of the offense — meaning that any charges brought under that law needed to be filed by Dec. 14, the three-year anniversary of the fake electors meeting in Carson City.
Click here to read the indictment and charges
When is the next step in this process?
Online court records show defendants are scheduled to appear before Clark County Judge Mary Kay Holthus for an initial arraignment at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 18.
Click here to read the summons.
What else have we learned about the state’s case?
So far, only preliminary documents have been released in the cases filed against the six fake electors, including a small part of a transcript of a grand jury meeting on Nov. 14.
That document includes testimony from a witness from the National Archives and the list of witnesses who were scheduled to deliver testimony to the grand jury. The transcript also indicates that the grand jury was presented with charges to be filed against a seventh person — Kenneth Chesebro, a Trump campaign attorney who helped orchestrate the fake elector scheme in other states and reportedly traveled to Nevada to testify in the case.
You can read more of the evidence in this transcript of proceedings here.
What we’re reading and writing
Democrat-linked attorneys sue to stop voter ID ballot measure by Eric Neugeboren
It’s deja vu all over again.
Is Nevada’s economy booming or middling? It depends on the questions, who you ask by Sean Golonka
We heard you liked mixed signals, so we got you the 2023 Nevada economy.
In Vegas, Biden highlights $3 billion for high-speed rail line to sell Nevadans on economy by Jacob Solis and Eric Neugeboren
Nothing makes Biden enter campaign mode quite like passenger rail.
Biden’s battleground states footprint (or lack thereof) leaves Dems concerned by Elena Schneider and Holly Otterbein, Politico
If Biden’s nonexistent re-election staffing rates in Nevada are used as a metric, #WeDon’tMatter.
Biden Campaign Announces Key Hires in Nevada, a Top Battleground State by Dan Merica and Adrian Carrasquillo, The Messenger
But wait! Nevada hires! And only two days after the Politico story. Please reset your #WeMatter alarms.
The Lightning Round
🏛️ An amicus brief from who? For what?? — Astute readers may remember a lawsuit filed by longshot Republican presidential candidate John Anthony Castro seeking to get former President Donald Trump tossed from Nevada’s ballot on 14th Amendment grounds. Enter: Former Clark County Commissioner (and one time gubernatorial candidate) Chris Giunchigliani, a Democrat who filed an amicus brief on that suit alongside two Republican Nye County voters asking a judge to dismiss the suit altogether. Why? A lack of Article III standing, and because “this is no way to decide highly consequential constitutional questions.”
📜 Could the UNLV shooting change the gun control conversation? — Probably not, or at least not soon. Though the Nevada federal delegation pushed this week for more stringent national gun control laws (which, again, faltered in a divided Congress), state politicians have said little in the way of policy. It’s also unclear what gun laws or restrictions could have prevented last week’s shooting, which left three faculty dead and another seriously injured. Nevada already bans guns on campus with limited exceptions, and the handgun used by the shooter was purchased legally in 2022.
🚄 Gov. Joe Lombardo, train guy — Here’s a short list of the politicians who last week jumped at the chance to trumpet $3 billion in federal money for a high speed rail line, Brightline West, linking Southern Nevada and Southern California: President Joe Biden, Nevada’s congressional Democrats — and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who called the federal dollars “a critical piece” of the project.
🚂 Sam Brown, not-train guy? — Brown, the leading GOP Senate hopeful, looked to turn Brightline West into a wedge against Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) just in time for Biden’s visit last week. That included characterizing the federal grant as a handout for a billionaire.
💸 Brown gets a leadership fundraiser — That’s according to The Hill, which reported last week that Brown would fundraise alongside both Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the minority whip. Notably, it also comes after Brown criticized McConnell in 2022 for backing then-Brown opponent (and eventual GOP Senate nominee) Adam Laxalt.
🌟 Gretchen Whitmer endorses Horsford — In news that involves multiple swing states, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) endorsed Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) as part of her political action committee’s first round of endorsements. The announcement comes with a commitment for future funding from Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC, too.
🗳️ Your regular legislative update – Two new names in Reno’s Assembly District 27 and a Republican who announced he would run for Assembly District 2 shortly before he was indicted for his role in falsely pledging Nevada’s electoral votes to Donald Trump in 2020. More details and other announcements on The Nevada Independent’s legislative candidate tracker here.
— Jacob Solis and Tabitha Mueller
And to ease you into the week, a few “posts” to “X” that caught our eye:
- Would someone please get this bear a pair of skis.
- Oh good, new jobs report is out.
- Don’t let the 3-0 final score distract you from the fact that we were robbed of the most majestic score (a 0-0 tie).
We’ll see you next week.
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