ACLU Files To Intervene In Lawsuit Challenging 11K Voter Registrations in Washoe County

The ACLU of Nevada has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit led by the Citizen Outreach Foundation (COF) which alleges that 11,000 voters in Washoe County are ineligible to vote in the 2024 election. The foundation has requested that the Washoe County Registrar follow procedure by confirming voters address and county residency. The ACLU is seeking the court to reject their challenge.

According to KOLO 8 News:

The ACLU argues the action requested in the lawsuit would violate state and federal law that prohibits conducting systemic voter roll maintenance within 90 days of an election, which they say are part of a broader effort to disenfranchise voters nationwide.

“This isn’t just about Washoe County. We’re seeing similar voter purge attempts across the country, targeting voters with flawed data and reckless methods. It’s a coordinated national plan with the same goal: to make it harder for people to vote. We’re standing up against this nationwide attack on voting rights and ensuring every eligible voter can cast their ballot,” said ACLU of Nevada executive director Athar Haseebullah.

In an email, Chuck Muth, president of COF, replied to the ACLU’s assertions, stating: “We’re trying to make it harder for people WHO DON’T LIVE HERE to vote in our elections. Why would the ACLU want ballots sent to people who have moved to another state?”

COF has filed similar lawsuits in Carson City, Clark County and Storey County after the Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) issued a directive to all 17 county election officials to reject COF’s challenges due to his “bizarre” interpretation of Nevada law.

As reported by The Globe:

Due to the lack of response to those challenges, COF then filed a public records request in late August and found that the SOS had intervened by issuing a memo on August 27 to election officials.

The memo from Deputy Secretary of Elections Mark Wlaschin claimed that the “personal knowledge” requirement under Section 535 should be interpreted in exactly the same way as the requirement in Section 547. He further instructed clerks to reject challenges made under the former section by organizations like COF that do not fulfill the latter’s definition of “personal knowledge.”

“It is the opinion of the Secretary of State that such challenges do not meet the requirement of ‘personal knowledge’ of facts supporting the challenge required by NRS 293.535 and 293.547,” Wlaschin wrote. “County clerks who receive these challenges should reject them and instruct challengers that personal knowledge gained through firsthand experience or observation of the facts relating to a voter’s eligibility is necessary to file a valid challenge under either statute.”

Wlaschin admitted that “‘personal knowledge’ is not explicitly defined under [Section 535] or implementing regulations,” yet claimed “the Secretary views the term to mean the same thing in both statutes.”

“This was a last resort action we’ve worked hard to avoid,” said Chuck Muth. “We’ve done everything by the book and according to the law, but the clerks got caught between a rock and a hard place. Some had been properly processing our challenges as required by law, until Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar issued a directive in August advising them to reject our challenges based on a bizarre reading of the statute. So we were left with no choice but to seek the court’s intervention,” Muth concluded.

Muth noted that some officials had been working cooperatively with his organization in processing the challenges until Secretary Aguilar’s memo, while others have been hiding behind the directive as an excuse to duck their responsibilities.

“Aguilar’s continued claim that ‘Nevada runs the most safe, secure and accessible elections in the country’ can be proven by the maintenance of accurate voter rolls in accordance with federal and state law,” Muth told The Globe.

Editor’s note: Late yesterday, the ACLU announced they have also filed to intervene in COR’s lawsuit filed in Clark County that alleges approximately 22,000 people are ineligible to vote.