Judge Dismisses Nevada 2020 Fake Electors Case Over Jurisdiction

The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously revived a criminal case against six state Republicans who signed certificates falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner of Nevada’s six electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, according to court documents published in November 2025.

According to reporting from The Nevada Independent and Newsweek, the high court’s decision reverses an earlier ruling by a Clark County district judge who had dismissed the indictments due to a lack of local jurisdiction. The unanimous ruling preserves one of the few remaining state-level prosecutions targeting alternate elector schemes deployed across multiple swing states after the 2020 election.

Supreme Court Reverses Lower Court on Jurisdiction

In June 2024, Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus dismissed the criminal charges, ruling that Clark County was not the appropriate venue because the alleged Carson City signing ceremony and subsequent mailings occurred in Northern Nevada. According to The Nevada Independent, Judge Holthus stated at the time that the case belonged up north, noting that the three-year statute of limitations had already expired in December.

However, according to Newsweek, the Nevada Supreme Court rejected that reasoning in its November 2025 opinion. The justices concluded that venue was proper in Clark County because at least one fraudulent document packet was addressed to and delivered in Las Vegas, meaning the alleged offenses were not complete until the materials reached their destination.

Charges and Defendants in the 2020 Elector Scheme

The defendants indicted by a grand jury in December 2023 include Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, Clark County GOP Chairman Jesse Law, state party Vice Chair Jim Hindle, Shawn Meehan, and Eileen Rice, as reported by The Nevada Independent. Each defendant faces two counts: offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument, which carry potential prison sentences ranging from two to nine years.

According to the indictment cited by Newsweek, the group met in Carson City on December 14, 2020, to sign documents declaring themselves the qualified electors for Nevada despite Joe Biden’s certified victory in the state. Prosecutors stated the documents were then mailed to various officials, including Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court of Nevada Miranda Du. Defense attorneys argued that the envelope sent to Judge Du was erroneously routed through Las Vegas before reaching her chambers in Reno, but the state Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the Las Vegas delivery established sufficient local jurisdiction to proceed.