Nevada's yearslong criminal case against six Republicans accused of submitting a fake electoral certificate for President Trump was tossed out Thursday, marking the fourth such prosecution nationwide to fall apart.
A judge dismissed the case against the group, which includes Nevada GOP chair Michael McDonald and former Clark County Republican chair Jesse Law, after they pleaded not guilty to forgery and filing false documents, the Associated Press reported. The six had gathered outside Nevada's Legislature in a broadcast ceremony after the 2020 election, signing a certificate awarding the state's six electoral votes to Trump despite Joe Biden winning Nevada by more than 30,000 votes.
Prosecutors argued the defendants intended for their fake certificate to be mistaken for legitimate electoral votes that then-Vice President Mike Pence would count on January 6, 2021. The defendants countered that the move was simple "political theater" meant to preserve their right to challenge the results, not an attempt to deceive anyone.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat currently running for governor, brought the charges and has vowed to appeal the decision and continue the fight.
Similar prosecutions in Michigan and Georgia have already been dismissed, while a federal case charging Trump himself with conspiring to overturn the election was dropped by special counsel Jack Smith in late 2024, shortly after Trump defeated Kamala Harris in that year's election.
Arizona's case suffered a similar fate when Attorney General Kris Mayes recently dismissed her office's prosecution, though she's vowed to bring it back before a new grand jury after losing a June appeal on procedural grounds. Her office says it plans to appeal.
Only one fake elector case remains active nationwide, in Wisconsin, leaving prosecutors elsewhere with little to show for years of legal battles over the scheme once Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
