Nevada Republicans joined the growing national push to install election deniers in positions with authority over state elections, choosing a candidate for secretary of state on Tuesday who has embraced former president Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud — and who has vowed to try to block a result he deems was rigged.
Washington Post: Nevada Republicans join GOP wave of nominating election deniers
06.15.2022 / By Colby Itkowitz, Amy Gardner and Josh Dawsey
Washington Post: Nevada Republicans join GOP wave of nominating election deniers
Jim Marchant, a former state assemblyman who has said he opposed the certification of Joe Biden’s win in Nevada, is among several election deniers to win primaries for statewide offices, including secretaries of state, attorneys general and governors. The victories have come in swing states that could play a major role in the 2024 presidential election, including Nevada, which Biden narrowly won.
Marchant’s victory provides yet another example of the extent to which embracing Trump’s false claims has become part of a winning formula in this year’s GOP contests, and the effect those victories could have on American democracy. Many are seeking positions with the power to interfere in the outcomes of future contests. They could set new rules for local election officials, block the certification of election results and change the rules around the awarding of their states’ electoral votes, which currently follow the popular vote and determine the presidency.
The Nevada secretary of state does not certify election results, but they have other powers over the election process, including setting and enforcing rules with local election officials.
“It’s concerning to have people in positions of power who do not believe in the rule of law, which is what our entire system of democracy is based on,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for the watchdog Common Cause. “Jim Marchant continues to say that he would not have certified the 2020 election. And he continues to say that President Biden did not win. Various courts — I think there were more than 60 lawsuits around the country — found that in fact President Biden did win.”