Nevada judge rejects Trump lawsuit on voting records

A Nevada judge has ruled against Donald Trump’s campaign in a lawsuit that accuses a county official of unlawfully keeping polls open past closing time. 

The Trump campaign asked District Judge Gloria Sturman to ensure that ballots from the Clark County precinct in question were separated and preserved in case Trump wants to challenge the state’s results.  

{mosads}Sturman noted that there is already a public obligation to preserve voting records in case of a challenge, CBSN reported. The judge added that the Trump campaign should have appealed to the secretary of state’s office first. 

Since the Republican nominee’s campaign regularly argues that the system is “rigged” against him, the lawsuit could give Trump’s team an opening to challenge the results of the presidential election if Nevada’s six electoral votes could tip the balance in the Electoral College.

Clark County leans Democratic and includes a high percentage of minority voters when compared to the rest of the state. Democrats looking to win the swing state are hoping to drive up turnout in friendly areas like Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. 

Trump and his supporters have railed against Clark County, with state GOP chairman Michael McDonald telling the crowd at a Saturday night Trump rally that polls were kept open so that a “certain group” could vote. 

On Tuesday, Trump campaign staffers framed the suit as an issue of fairness, not intimidation.

“The incidents that occurred on Friday night should be troubling to anyone who is interested in free and fair elections,” said Charles Muñoz, the Trump campaign’s Nevada director, in a statement announcing the suit. 

“Voters who showed up after the scheduled closing times at selected locations were allowed to vote, while those who were not able to make it to other early voting sites by the posted closing times were denied the right to cast their ballot.” 

David Bossie, the campaign’s deputy communications director, said the lawsuit is “the first of those cases that we are filing.”