LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A lawsuit dismissed by a Carson City judge Friday provides more clues about the allegations Nevada Republicans presented in their case alleging widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

The lawsuit, brought by the Republican Party’s six electors and President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, sought to have Nevada’s election results overturned.

In court Thursday, Jesse Binnall, a lawyer representing the Republicans, said they had evidence of deceased individuals having ballots cast in their names and that tens of thousands of living voters voted twice.

In his ruling Friday, Judge James Russell said there was no evidence of fraud, writing what was shown to him did not prove any of the allegations.

In the state case that was dismissed, lawyers representing the Republican Party’s electors and the campaign said:

  • 1,506 votes cast in the election came from dead voters
  • 2,468 votes were cast by voters who changed their address to another state or country
  • 42,284 voters voted twice
  • About 20,000 voters voted in Nevada without a Nevada mailing address

“Contestants did not prove under any standard of proof that any illegal votes were cast and counted, or legal votes were not counted at all, for any other improper or illegal reason, nor in an amount equal to or greater than 33,596, or otherwise in an amount sufficient to raise reasonable doubt as to the outcome of the election,” Russell wrote in his order.

The evidence, which included 20 binders-worth of materials, was submitted to the court under seal, meaning it could not be viewed publicly. At a news conference on Nov. 5, where surrogates from the Trump campaign announced a federal lawsuit, which was later dropped, speakers told reporters to find the evidence for themselves. That lawsuit was later dismissed voluntarily. During the sole hearing in that case, a lawyer provided no evidence of fraud and did not verbally bring up any evidence to the federal judge.

Russell’s 34-page order details the allegations issue-by-issue. This is the first time the public has been able to see the evidence as presented with specific depositions cited.

Allegation: Clark County’s signature-matching machine worked improperly

A previous lawsuit, where Binnall also represented Republicans, found no state law barred Clark County from using its signature-matching machine to handle the influx of mail-in ballots, Russell’s order said.

Russell notes a 10-hour hearing held in October found no evidence that the way Clark County was using the machine “resulted in any fraudulent ballot being validated or any valid ballot invalidated.”

In his ruling, Russell wrote the machine is used in other communities, many larger than Clark County, including Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago. Russell also noted the contestants did not file any complaints about the machine before or after the June primary, when it was also used.

Ballots that the signature-verification machine rejected were flagged for a multi-human verification process, court documents said. If the signature was rejected after this multi-process review, the voter could come cure their ballot.

About 7,000 ballots were rejected due to a signature mismatch, court documents said. Clark County’s mismatch rate of 1.51% is nearly equal to Washoe County’s rate or 1.53%, Russell noted.

“Accordingly, no ballot was rejected for signature mismatch by Clark County without first being reviewed by Clark County employees,” Russell wrote, adding roughly 70% of ballots were reviewed by a human being.

Allegation: Electronic voting machines were suspectable to cybercrime

All 16 counties in Nevada use Dominion Voting machines, which are not connected to the internet, the FBI previously told the I-Team. In Clark County, a printer will audit the voter’s selection, Russell wrote.

“The printout is printed on a roll of paper, like a receipt from a grocery store cash register, behind a plastic covering, which allows the voter to privately review her selections,” Russell wrote in his decision, citing elections officials. The machines themselves are audited with the paper trail that is printed with every vote.

Elections officials testified the machines will not work unless the printer is functional and that the machines are audited and certified, court documents said. The county found no discrepancies in the paper audit and the data in the voter machines, Russell said.

Allegation: Whistleblowers allege widespread illegal voting

Russell notes an expert who provided a deposition to lawyers for the Democratic Party noted, “there is no evidence that voter fraud rates associated with mail voting are systematically higher than voter fraud rates associated with other forms of voting,” court documents said.

In his ruling, Russell writes, “the court finds that there is no credible or reliable evidence that the 2020 General Election in Nevada was affected by fraud.”

Russell said the evidence presented to him did not corroborate allegations of people voting without proper identification, that ballots without a signature match were counted, or that “election workers authenticated, processed, or counted ballots that presented problems and irregularities under pressure from election officials,” court documents said.

The allegations, according to Russell’s order, came from anonymous witnesses, to which Russell equated some to hearsay.

Allegation: 40,000 Nevadans voted twice or were ineligible to vote

“The record does not support a finding that any Nevada voter voted twice,” Russell said about the evidence presented to him. The I-Team confirmed five people in Clark County voted twice. The five cases were forwarded to the Secretary of State’s Office for investigation, a spokesperson said.

Russell notes other allegations presented to him, including individual voters were sent and cast multiple ballots, was none of them then hearsay, adding there was “no evidence that ballot was cast or counted.”

Russell notes there was no sufficient evidence presented to him, regarding the allegation that thousands of out-of-state residents voted in Nevada. According to the court records, one allegation involved a person seeing voters “arriving with out-of-state license plates,” but Russell writes there is no evidence presented these voters were not eligible to vote in Nevada.

Allegation: 500 decreased Nevadans had votes cast in their names

Russell again cites a lack of evidence in the allegation that deceased voters had votes cast in their name. The I-Team confirmed two cases in Clark County, where a deceased person had a ballot sent to their last-known address, and a ballot was cast in their name.

Rosemarie Hartle, of Las Vegas, died in 2017 at 52-years-old from breast cancer, her husband, Kirk Hartle, told the I-Team in November. A ballot for Rosemarie was issued and later received by the county. The I-Team found that even though Rosemarie died in 2017, her name appears on the active voter list, and a ballot was cast in her name. In a second case, elections officials believe a voter inadvertently voted using a deceased family member’s ballot.

Allegation: Voters cast ballots from vacant lots and commercial properties

In his decision, Russell said there was no evidence that ballots sent to addresses where a voter no longer lived were harvested. “The record does not support a finding that USPS letter carriers were directed to violate USPS policy by delivering mail ballots to addresses where the addressee of the ballot was known to be deceased, known to have moved from that address, or had no affiliation with that address at all,” Russell writes, citing Thorley’s testimony.

Allegation: Observers could not watch ballots be counted

A previous state lawsuit was dropped three days after Election Day, after the Trump campaign reached an agreement with Gloria for additional access to oversee the ballot counting process at election headquarters in North Las Vegas. Russell notes there is no record that anyone was “denied the right to observe the processing and tabulation of mail ballots.”

Russell also includes the testimony provided to him admits “observers were always present and given access.”

Allegation: Nevada Native Vote Project offered gifts to voters

Russell said there was no evidence organized voter drives had any relationship with one candidate or another, citing the Nevada Native Vote Project as a non-partisan, non-profit organization. “The record also does not support a finding that any group or individual offered anything of value to voters to manipulate the voters’ choice for president,” Russell writes.

Allegation: A Biden-Harris van was parked outside a polling place and stuffed ballots

Russell writes there is no evidence to support this claim, adding one anonymous witness made the allegation of “ballot-stuffing occurring in broad daylight outside a busy polling place in Nevada’s most populous county.”

The Nevada GOP described the evidence as compelling and overwhelming Friday and said they planned to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

During the ballot canvassing process, Gloria told the Clark County Commission his office found more than 900 discrepancies from nearly 1 million cast. Gloria stated that they had found the discrepancies in tracking, moving from signature to manual signature verifications, as well as in the ballot curing process.

Attorney General Bill Barr, a Republican, has said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Biden won the election in Nevada by more than 33,000 votes statewide.

Voter fraud is a felony and carries a fine and jail time.

The I-Team compared state data and other information provided by the White House and compiled by the Heritage Foundation. Out of more than seven million votes cast in Nevada elections since 2008, two votes are known to have been cast illegally. A person who was not in the country legally cast one vote in the 2008 general election and voted again in 2010.

In his ruling, Russell ordered lawyers for the Trump campaign to pay the defendants’ legal fees.