A lawsuit filed on Friday alleges that several Nevada clerks are failing to comply with their legal obligations to process citizen-led complaints about possible ineligible voters on the government’s registration lists.
The Citizen Outreach Foundation ( COF ) and its president, Chuck Muth, brought a lawsuit against the Carson City and Storey County election clerks for violating their statutory rights by filing complaints against allegedly unlawful registrants on the counties ‘ respective voter rolls in Nevada’s First Judicial District Court. In the case, Scott Hoen, a capital aide, and Jim Hindle, a store aide, are the accused.
As noted in the petition, the constitutional story stems from an Aug. 27 order issued by Democrat Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. Local clerks were instructed to avoid submitting objections to voter registration challenges by Muth and the COF using a certain provision of state law.
As I previously stated in these webpages, the COF filed affidavits challenging the registration of almost 4, 000 registered voters on July 29 under Section 535, which allows “any legislator or other trusted man” to challenge registration claims against registered voters who have moved to a different state or condition with the intention to relocate there or remain there for an indefinite period. The adversaries must state that they have “personal knowledge of the facts set forth in the oath.”
After the rejection of COF’s documents under Section 547, COF filed its Part 535 challenges. There are arguably stricter criteria for filing challenges, such as the need that affidavits be “based on the specific knowledge of the listed voter.”
In a memo to clerks on August 27th, Deputy Secretary of Elections Mark Wlaschin stated that Aguilar “views the term mean the same thing in both statutes” and instructed local officials to “reject” challenges that did not comply with his office’s interpretation of the law and that” [[personal knowledge ] is not explicitly defined under]Section 535] or implementing regulations.
Defendants contend in their Friday petition that Hoen and Hindle “have refused to comply” with state law’s requirements to file their Section 535 problems. Additionally, they assert that neither Carson City nor Storey County responded to their Sept. 10 letter” to each city lawyer regarding the loss to approach problems because of the document issued by Cisco Aguilar.”
Interviewees Hoen and Hindle’s failure to act will continue to hurt plaintiffs and the public until they are required to do so in accordance with Nevada law, the lawsuit states.
]RELATED: Nevada Activists Blast Elections Chief For Trying To ‘ Discourage And Impede ‘ Genuine Voting Roll Challenges]
Muth individually noted in a Friday content that he views Aguilar— never the county clerks and registrar” who processed]the COF’s ] unique problems” — as the “bad guy”.
” ]W] hile we asked that]Aguilar ] rescind his directive and allow the clerks/registrars to comply with Nevada’s law and process the challenges, he’s refused to even respond. Which leaves us with no choice but to seek court intervention”, Muth wrote. Sadly and reluctantly, that means we must sue county clerks and registrars, even those who initially performed their duties as they were supposed to.
In a previous interview with The Federalist, the COF president claimed that many local officials have been “extremely cooperative and helpful” in their efforts to remove ineligible registrants from the Silver State’s voter rolls.
Plaintiffs have requested that the state’s First Judicial District Court issue a writ of mandamus” compelling Respondents to process the challenges and provide notice to the registrant” as required by state law. Additionally, they requested that the court rule that defendants were in violation of Nevada law and that they must grant an injunction requiring them to comply with it.
According to Muth, additional lawsuits will be brought against other county clerks in Nevada this week.
Neither Hoen nor Hindle responded to The Federalist’s requests for comment.
Shawn Fleetwood is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and a staff writer for The Federalist. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
