A Nevada judge on Thursday threw out criminal charges against six Republicans who had been accused of submitting a false certificate claiming Donald Trump won the state’s 2020 presidential election. The ruling is a significant setback for the state’s efforts to hold so-called fake electors accountable.
Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus concluded that prosecutors failed to show the defendants intended to deceive government officials when they signed and submitted the document. In her written decision, Holthus noted that the group’s actions were public and their purpose openly stated, undercutting any reasonable inference of fraudulent intent.
“The fact that Defendants openly announced both their actions and their asserted purpose, rather than concealing their conduct or attempting to secretly induce governmental reliance, weighs against a reasonable inference that they acted with fraudulent intent,” she wrote.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, immediately announced he would appeal the decision to the Nevada Supreme Court. “The District Court’s decision is, once again, wrong, and we will appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, just as we did when the court first dismissed our case against these defendants,” Ford said in a statement. “My office will continue to work to hold these fake electors accountable for their actions which attempted to undermine our democracy and erode trust in our elections.”
The six defendants—including Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald and former Clark County GOP Chair Jesse Law—were indicted in 2023 on charges of offering a false document and forgery. They pleaded not guilty. The charges stemmed from a gathering outside the Nevada Legislature after the 2020 election, where the group signed a certificate asserting Trump had won Nevada’s six electoral votes, despite Joe Biden carrying the state by more than 30,000 votes.
Prosecutors argued the defendants intended the certificate to be treated as legitimate and counted when Congress certified the election results in January 2021. Holthus disagreed, pointing out that the document could not legally be accepted, filed, registered, or recorded under Nevada or federal law.
The defense maintained that the certificate was never meant to deceive officials into believing it was genuine. The judge’s ruling aligns with that argument, emphasizing the lack of concealment and the public nature of the act.
This case is part of a broader national effort to prosecute individuals who participated in alternate elector schemes in 2020. Similar cases have been brought in other states, with mixed results. The Nevada ruling could influence how courts in other jurisdictions weigh the evidence in such cases.
Political observers note that the decision may have implications for ongoing election integrity debates. It comes as the Department of Justice has sent election monitors to Minnesota amid local pushback, and as other legal battles over election procedures continue to unfold.
