Republicans are suing Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar for allowing some voters who don’t live in the state to vote in Nevada elections.
The Republican National Committee, the Nevada Republican Party, and Republican Secretary of State nominee Jim Marchant filed a lawsuit at the end of June.
In the complaint, the Republicans say that Aguilar, the Democratic National Committee, and the Nevada State Democratic Party violated the Nevada Constitution.
The lawsuit was filed in the First Judicial District Court in Carson City. The complaint is still under review by a judge.
The plaintiffs cite a specific law, NRS 293D.210(4), for the reasoning why the SOS is being sued.
The statute reads that an overseas voter born outside of the U.S. can vote in Nevada elections as long as the last place their parent or guardian lived was Nevada.
They also have to be eligible to vote before leaving the U.S. and could not be registered to vote in a different state.
The law went into effect in 2011, after it was unanimously passed in the Nevada State Legislature and signed by then-Governor Brian Sandoval.
Aguilar took office in 2023.
The Republicans say that this law violates Article 2, Section 1 of the Nevada Constitution.
It states that a U.S. citizen older than 18, who’s lived in the state for six months and in the district or county for 30 days, should be entitled to vote.
“Nevada Democrats are enforcing a policy that allows certain people who have never lived in Nevada to vote in Nevada elections,” said RNC Chairman Joe Gruters in an RNC press release. “The RNC is taking action to defend Nevada’s Constitution and ensure Nevada elections are decided only by eligible Nevada voters.”
Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar sent a statement regarding this complaint:
“The lawsuit challenging Nevada’s protections for certain overseas voters is an attack on the voting rights of eligible U.S. citizens living abroad, and military families whose lives are shaped by service and sacrifice. They risk everything to defend our freedoms, including the fundamental right to vote, and Nevada has a responsibility to protect their access to the ballot and the rights of the families who serve alongside them. Children born overseas should not be punished because their parents served, worked, or were stationed outside the United States. Nevada will not turn its back on military families simply because their service took them away from home.”
Hilary Barrett, NV Dems Executive Director, also sent a statement:
“After losing their battle to restrict mail-in ballots with the Supreme Court last week, Republicans are now trying to disenfranchise lawful Nevada voters—the spouses and children of active military, while they are serving overseas, during an election cycle that will determine the direction of the country. This disgraceful lawsuit is already failing in other states where the GOP has filed it, and it will fail here, too.”
The GOP-led lawsuit failed in Michigan, but it did go through in North Carolina.
There are similar active lawsuits in Colorado and Nebraska.
We did reach out to the Nevada Republican Party for comment, and did not immediately hear back.
As a reminder, Jim Marchant and Francisco Aguilar will face off in the general election in the race for Nevada Secretary of State in November.
