A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit alleging Nevada’s voter rolls were inaccurate, citing lack of evidence for concrete legal harm.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Republican National Committee (RNC), the Nevada GOP, and individual Nevada voter Scott Johnston, alleging that Nevada’s voter rolls were inaccurate and violated federal law. The plaintiffs claimed that several counties in the state had more registered voters than eligible adult citizens, which they argued heightened the risk of voter fraud and diluted legitimate votes ahead of the November election.
In a ruling issued on Oct. 18, U.S. District Judge Cristina Silva rejected the lawsuit, siding with Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and county election officials. The judge found that the plaintiffs had failed to establish standing under Article III of the Constitution, which requires a concrete injury for federal courts to have jurisdiction.
“To have standing under Article III, a plaintiff must allege an injury in fact that is ‘concrete and particularized and actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical,’” Silva wrote in her decision. Siding with the defendants, she found that the plaintiffs’ concerns about vote dilution were “generalized and speculative,” and therefore insufficient to warrant judicial intervention.
The lawsuit,