Court Sets Summer Trial in Nevada Forgery Case Tied to 2020 Electoral Certificates

Six Nevada Republicans who served as alternate electors for former President Donald Trump in 2020 are set to stand trial next summer after entering not-guilty pleas to felony forgery charges. The case stems from a December 2020 ceremony in which the group signed documents declaring Nevada’s electoral votes for Trump despite President Joe Biden having officially won the state by more than 33,000 votes. The documents were later mailed to federal authorities.

A Clark County grand jury indicted the individuals in 2023 on charges related to filing and transmitting false electoral certificates. The case was first dismissed in Clark County due to venue issues, then re-filed by the attorney general in Carson City, where a judge recently ruled that the evidence was sufficient to proceed.

Those charged are Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald, Clark County GOP Chair Jesse Law, Jim DeGraffenreid, Durward James Hindle III, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice. All six appeared in court on Monday and formally pleaded not guilty. Trial is scheduled for July. Attorneys for the group argue they acted in response to legal challenges that were ongoing at the time from the Trump campaign, though Nevada’s courts had already rejected those claims by mid-December.

State law directs the secretary of state to oversee Nevada’s official electoral certification, a function carried out on the same day as the alternate signing by then-Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske. Election-fraud claims from 2020 were made in the same cycle in which Republicans gained legislative seats, and later cycles — including Gov. Joe Lombardo’s 2022 win and Trump’s 2024 statewide victory — did not produce similar fraud allegations.

Source: 8 News Now / Las Vegas Review-Journal