Nevada officials refuted claims from the Trump administration about alleged election irregularities related to possible voting by noncitizens in the state.
During a primetime address about election integrity Thursday night, President Donald Trump said that a Department of Homeland Security review had identified more than 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in the U.S.
In one of multiple declassified documents the White House simultaneously publicized, Nevada was singled out as one of four states where more than 250,000 of the purported would-be illegal voters were identified.
The DHS document said it used public data files to review Nevada, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, adding that it would expand the investigation to additional states.
“The President has spent the better part of a decade attempting to manufacture a crisis around voting when there is none,” said Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar in a statement Thursday. “Today’s announcement from the President and Department of Homeland Security is the latest chapter in a predictable playbook crafted intentionally to undermine faith in our elections. Nevada voters and all Americans deserve better.”
DHS says thousands of noncitizens ID’d in Nevada rolls
Also on Thursday, Aguilar received a letter from DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin alleging that the federal agency’s review had found as many as 15,903 noncitizens registered to vote in the state.
“As an example, we found 8,576 Nevada registrants for whom the name, date of birth, address and Social Security number match a non-citizen in our files,” Mullin said. “The most efficient way to ensure the accuracy of our findings is to work collaboratively on identity verification.”
Aguilar, in a separate statement, countered that the numbers were “wildly speculative at best” and that the DHS hadn’t shared any proof that backs up the claim.
Trump’s speech centered around previously-debunked claims of widespread voter fraud he’s made since he lost his first re-election bid in 2020, including new claims that China had meddled in that election and that the “deep state” had covered it up.
“…Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure, including electronic voting machines and ballot counting systems, dishonest, almost all,” he said from the White House. The president also demanded that Congress pass the SAVE America Act that would institute voter ID and proof of citizenship.
“We have very important elections coming up,” Trump said. “We want those elections to be honest.”
Nevada officials respond
Nevada officials were quick to respond to Trump’s claims.
“Donald Trump spread baseless conspiracies tonight that have been either repeatedly debunked or proven by his own administration not to have impacted any election results,” wrote Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., on X.
She added that the president was deflecting to distract Americans from his “failed presidency and broken promises.”
In a statement, Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., argued that Trump was peddling false conspiracy theories from a time he was still in office.
“Donald Trump may have forgotten, but he was President in 2020 and his Administration oversaw the election that year,” she said. “Many investigations have shown that his allegations about the results of the 2020 election are wrong, and they’re nothing more than a desperate attempt to distract Americans from the problems he has caused for hardworking families.”
Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office said it couldn’t comment on specific claims because the elections are overseen by the secretary of state.
“However, Governor Lombardo remains committed to common-sense election measures that strengthen security, increase transparency, and instill confidence in Nevada’s elections,” the office said in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said that Trump was trying to illegally interfere with the states’ rights to conduct elections.
“It is the sovereign right of Nevada and all other states to run their elections,” he said in a statement. “Full stop.”
Republicans offer support for Trump
Meanwhile, the Nevada Republican Party expressed support for Trump’s speech, saying in a statement that the president was taking steps to ensure that U.S. elections are safe and free and trusted by the electorate.
“These declassified materials include summations of foreign countries’ acquisition of voter files, vulnerabilities in electronic voting and counting systems, voter registration concerns, and non-citizens on voter rolls,” the statement added.
The Nevada State Democratic Party described Trump’s claims as dangerous falsehoods that seek to rewrite history.
Trump and the DHS said they want to work with states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
“Democrats are fighting harder to keep non-citizens on voter rolls than they fight to lower costs for American citizens,” said Nick Poche, regional spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, in a statement. “If Democrats were so confident in the integrity of the system, they would be working with the President Trump to make sure only American citizens are voting.”
The office of Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Letters from Mullin and the DOJ
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice sent letters to the 50 U.S. states warning, in part, that election officials can be prosecuted for allowing noncitizens to vote.
Mullin, in his letter, said that his agency was ready to support Aguilar’s office to identify and purge its voter rolls of noncitizens.
He gave Nevada’s chief election officer until July 30 to touch base with the DHS.
Aguilar said that his office has repeatedly provided the Trump administration detailed information about how Nevada maintains its list of eligible voters.
In turn, Aguilar said, the administration hasn’t answered basic questions.
“There are numerous safeguards in place to prevent noncitizens, or anyone ineligible to vote, from casting a ballot,” he said. “The Administration lacks a fundamental understanding of how elections work.”
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
