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All The States Investigating The 2020 Election: Nevada Latest Launching Fake Electors Probe

November 17, 2023

Topline

Nevada’s attorney general is investigating the “fake electors” who submitted a false slate of Electoral College votes after the 2020 election that claimed former President Donald Trump won the state, Politico first reported Wednesday, becoming the latest battleground state where false electors and others are still facing legal consequences years after the 2020 election.

Then-President Donald Trump raises his fist as he arrives for a rally in Carson City, Nevada on … [+] October 18, 2020.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Georgia: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted 19 defendants on 41 total charges related to Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election—including Trump, attorney Rudy Giuliani and several defendants involved with planning and carrying out the “fake electors” scheme in that state—though four defendants have since taken plea deals, including attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who was involved with planning the false electors scheme, and others who posed as false electors took immunity deals before the charges were brought.

Michigan: The state indicted 16 of the GOP officials who acted as fake electors there after the 2020 election, bringing felony charges in July, though one of the defendants had his charges dropped in October after reaching a “cooperation deal” with prosecutors.

Arizona: Democratic state Attorney General Kris Mayes has launched an investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the fake electors scheme in the state; the Washington Post reported in July the probe was “ramping up” though still in its early stages, and it’s still unclear at this point whether it will broaden to include other post-election activities besides the false electors.

Nevada: Democratic state Attorney General Aaron Ford has been “quietly investigating” the officials who submitted a false slate of electors in Nevada, Politico first reported and other outlets confirmed Wednesday, even as the attorney general previously testified he didn’t think there were any state statutes that could be used to address the electors’ misconduct.

In addition to the state investigations, Trump has also been indicted in federal court for his and allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including through the fake elector scheme, though no charges have yet been brought against anyone else in that case.

Key Background

Republican officials, including lawmakers, activists and GOP officials, met in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the aftermath of the election, which are all states that President Joe Biden won. During the December 2020 meetings, the Republicans passed “alternate” states of electors claiming that Trump won their state, and those certificates were then sent to Congress and the National Archives for when lawmakers certified the election results. The effort was overseen by the Trump campaign and its attorneys, including Giuliani and Chesebro, and was made public at the time. Though none of the slates were actually used in the final vote count—Congress instead certified the actual slates of electors stating Biden won—the effort has raised legal questions since the elector meetings took place, and false electors in Michigan and Georgia were ultimately indicted on charges related to conspiracy, forgery, impersonating public officers and making false statements and writings. The “fake electors” scheme was part of a broader effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the election results in battleground states, which also included efforts to pressure state officials and legislators, breach election equipment and bring dozens of lawsuits that ultimately failed in court.

What To Watch For

Criminal proceedings are still moving forward in Georgia and Michigan, and electors in Michigan and Georgia who still have charges pending and have not reached deals with prosecutors have pleaded not guilty. It’s still unclear what the timeline will be for the investigations in Arizona and Nevada, and whether any charges will be brought at all. “This is something we’re not going to go into thinking, ‘Maybe we’ll get a conviction,’ or ‘Maybe we have a pretty good chance,’” Dan Barr, Mayes’ chief deputy in Arizona, told the Washington Post in July about the possibility of bringing charges in the state’s investigation. “This has to be ironclad shut.”

What We Don’t Know

Even though charges have been brought, it still remains to be seen if electors will ultimately be convicted in Michigan and Georgia. Legal experts suggested Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel may have undermined the state’s case when she said in a September event with activists that she believed the electors were “brainwashed” and their cases would be heard by jurors from a “very Democratic-leaning county.” “It undermines the validity of her prosecution theory,” former federal prosecutor Shan Wu told CNN. “If you think these people are brainwashed, then they didn’t have the right state of mind and couldn’t form the criminal intent to break the law.” (Nessel has not commented on the remarks.)

Surprising Fact

No charges have yet been brought against fake electors in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, and they’re less likely to face consequences than electors in other states. Most states’ alternate electors filed certificates declaring they were the state’s “duly elected” electors—even though they weren’t, since Biden was their state’s actual winner and not Trump. Pennsylvania and New Mexico’s certificates hedged by saying they’re an alternate slate of electors just in case Biden’s win in the states was invalidated, however, according to documents published by watchdog group American Oversight. That means that while most electors are now facing scrutiny for forging government documents—since they claimed to be legitimate electors when they weren’t—the electors in those two states likely couldn’t be prosecuted, Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, then attorney general, told CNN in 2022.