Nevada officials said this week that a Trump medication assertion that it confirmed uncovering 185 noncitizens successful the state’s elector rolls was inaccurate.
“As for the 185 individuals, our records bespeak that they were citizens,” Greg D. Ott, main lawman lawyer general, told the Department of Homeland Security successful a Wednesday email. “You person provided thing of substance to suggest otherwise.”
The section claimed implicit the summertime that a reappraisal utilizing migration databases of Nevada’s elector rolls from July 2025 had travel up with arsenic galore arsenic 15,903 imaginable noncitizens.
In a virtual gathering with Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar’s bureau successful August, DHS characterized the fig arsenic a “ceiling,” saying that it had lone confirmed 185 noncitizens aft a manual investigation.
Another 6,218 Nevadans described arsenic “higher assurance matches” required further review, a national authoritative said.
Ott wrote that DHS had lone provided Nevada 6,403 “voter lawsuit numbers” contempt repeated requests for further identifying information, specified arsenic afloat names, dates of birth, addresses and “other information points DHS matched for the 185 individuals identified successful the spreadsheet.”
He said that Nevada officials had learned that the alleged elector lawsuit numbers were Nevada’s elector registration numbers, which are lone an administrative identifier, adding that it’s not impervious of a person’s individuality oregon citizenship status.
Voter registration numbers successful Nevada whitethorn beryllium to much than 1 idiosyncratic aft the authorities transitioned to a azygous voter-registration system, Ott said. “As a result, the aforesaid fig whitethorn look astatine antithetic points successful clip successful transportation with antithetic elector records.”
Without further accusation from DHS, helium wrote, “the authorities volition beryllium incapable to find with assurance whether the individuals referenced by DHS are non-citizen voters.”
‘Service to the citizens of Nevada’
Ott was responding to a Sept. 9 connection from the DHS Office of Intergovernmental Affairs that accused Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar’s bureau of mischaracterizing the national agency’s findings.
“As described successful the meeting, this fig was arrived astatine done a reappraisal of matching criteria — the much attributes from the idiosyncratic registered elector that lucifer an idiosyncratic successful DHS migration records, the higher the assurance level,” an unnamed DHS authoritative wrote. “Each 1 of the 15,903 individuals identified should beryllium cautiously reviewed by your authorities to find eligibility for voting successful a national election.”
The authoritative said the national authorities had offered to reappraisal each record arsenic “a work to the citizens of Nevada.”
The Review-Journal obtained the messages done a records request.
DHS couldn’t beryllium reached for remark aft hours Thursday, but a typical disputed the findings successful a connection to the New York Times.
“The database of 185 were simply a subset of individuals that had gone done a rigorous manual reappraisal process,” the connection said.
Aguilar provided his ain statement.
“Our records bash not enactment DHS’s claims, and DHS has inactive not provided grounds to alteration that,” helium said. “Instead, DHS officials proceed their attempts to intimidate predetermination officials and deter voters with immense claims of fraud with nary evidence. Repeating unsupported claims does not marque them true.”
Back and distant began successful July
The series of events kicked disconnected successful July erstwhile President Donald Trump addressed the federation successful a prime-time code alleging wide elector fraud.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin brought up the 15,903 fig for the archetypal clip successful a missive to Aguilar that aforesaid day.
The virtual gathering took spot the pursuing month.
Earlier this month, DHS assigned hundreds of agents to nine states, including Nevada, to grow elector fraud investigations, according to CNN and the New York Times.
Also this month, the Department of Justice instructed Aguilar to sphere records related to the 2024 predetermination portion the national authorities appeals a tribunal ruling successful a suit that seeks the state’s unredacted elector registration database.
In the litigation-hold letter, DOJ authoritative Eric Neff besides informed the state’s main elections serviceman that helium was nether probe implicit the grade to which helium had complied with national records requests.
On Wednesday, Aguilar wrote letters to Nevada’s U.S. senators and House members asking them to deploy legislature observers to U.S. Postal Service locations “to assistance guarantee creaseless and uninterrupted predetermination process” during Election Day.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez astatine rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
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