LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Nevada Secretary of State, Francisco Aguilar, has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state GOP over voter registration as lacking merit. The lawsuit, which was filed by the Nevada Republican Party and the Republican National Committee, alleges that several counties in the state have voter registration numbers that exceed the number of adult citizens over the age of 18.
Specifically, the lawsuit claims that Douglas County has a registration rate of 104%, Lyon County at 105%, and Storey County at 113%. Two other counties, Carson City and Clark County, reported registration rates of 92% and 91% respectively. According to the GOP, these rates are significantly higher than the registration rates for previous elections in Nevada.
In response to the lawsuit, Secretary of State Aguilar issued a statement calling it “meritless” and announced that his office would file a motion to dismiss. Senior Deputy Attorney General Laena St-Jules also responded to the claims made in the lawsuit, stating that the data used by the GOP to support their arguments was comparing unrelated datasets and therefore invalid.
St-Jules pointed out that the GOP relied on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey for registration rates in 2022, while using data from a different survey, the 2017-2021 5-Year Citizen Voting Age Population, for the denominator. This comparison, according to St-Jules, is like comparing “apples to orangutans.” The letter further emphasized that the census data was collected from only 1,000 households in Nevada.
Additionally, St-Jules highlighted that the GOP’s analysis errors are compounded by comparing the census data to a survey conducted from 2017 to 2021, which disregards the state’s significant population growth in recent years.
As of now, no hearing date for the lawsuit has been scheduled.
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Note: The information provided in this article is based on a lawsuit filed against the Nevada Secretary of State by the state GOP. The Secretary of State and the Senior Deputy Attorney General have disputed the claims made in the lawsuit, stating that the data used is invalid and comparing unrelated datasets. The lawsuit is ongoing, and no conclusion has been reached at this time.