Nevada Judge Dismisses the Fake Elector Case Against Six Republicans for the Second Time

Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus dismissed forgery and false-instrument charges on Aug. 13 against six Nevada Republicans who signed a certificate declaring Donald Trump the winner of a state Joe Biden carried by more than 30,000 votes. The defendants include Nevada GOP chairman Michael McDonald and former Clark County GOP chairman Jesse Law. Holthus found the state had not shown intent to defraud, writing that the electors “openly announced both their actions and their asserted purpose,” and found prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence from the grand jury.

The ruling narrows what remains of state-level accountability for the 2020 alternate-elector effort. Comparable prosecutions in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia have been dismissed, and the federal case against Trump ended after the 2024 election; a Wisconsin case is still open. Holthus noted that Nevada law does not specifically criminalize submitting alternate elector certificates.

Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat running for governor, said his office will appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court. It is Holthus’s second dismissal; the state Supreme Court reversed her first, on venue grounds, last year.