Silver State Times

When Sen. James Settelmeyer (R-Minden) received word from friends that their departed loved ones had received voter ballots in the mail, he began to wonder whether deceased individuals had been scrubbed against the Social Security Death Index as is customary. 

“There are individuals I know who are sadly deceased who received ballots,” Settelmeyer told the Silver State News. “I don't believe they voted, but I don't know. I do know my friends didn't vote on their behalf.”

Settelmeyer isn’t the only politician expressing doubts about the presidential election. 

Sen. James Settelmeyer (R-Minden) | Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau

“I have in my possession several ballots that were mailed to folks who indeed had died a long, long time ago and they should have been cleared from the voter rolls but weren't,” state Assembly GOP Caucus Leader Dr. Robin Titus told the Silver State News. “These were brought to me by families that, obviously, weren't going to forge them. We are very concerned that any deceased have received these ballots in the mail.”

More than 1.3 million votes were cast in Nevada, according to the Associated Press. Most news services have awarded the Silver State's six electoral votes to Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

As previously reported, the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed a state Republican party appeal, which could have stopped the counting of mail-in ballots. The state GOP litigants and President Trump's campaign had requested transparency at ballot processing facilities.

Among the two lawsuits that remain is a federal complaint alleging illegal votes in Las Vegas. Although no hearing has been set yet, Nov. 19 is the deadline for filings.

A second lawsuit set Nov. 20 for when the Trump campaign and the state Republican Party will receive information about more than 300 people who counted ballots from Clark County officials.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, alleged on social media this week that hundreds of dead people voted in Clark County, including Fred Stokes Jr. and Rosemarie Hartle, both of whom passed away in 2017. Schlapp also announced that a witness allegedly saw a Biden-Harris van dumping boxes full of ballots, according to the Washington Times.

“I think that potentially individuals, due to COVID-19, were sent ballots in the mail that traditionally would not have requested them and sometimes, sadly, when things are out in the mail, it is more problematic,” Settelmeyer said in an interview. “It produces more opportunities for bad actors to capitalize on that system.”

The Associated Press reported that Biden leads Nevada with 50.2% of votes compared to 47.5% for President Trump but votes are still being counted, according to Titus.

“They're still looking at and gathering information,” Titus said in an interview. “Friday is when most of the county commissioners from the different counties will vote on whether they're going to canvas to vote or not. It's looking closer they will call this depending on lawsuits and other events.” 

Politicians statewide have been questioning the legitimacy of Biden’s position as president-elect but Titus said it’s up to individual candidates to file suit.

“Filing a lawsuit is not something we as an assembly caucus would do,” she said. “We did pick up three seats and we had some close races but none that we will contest or file any lawsuits over.”

Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt alleged on Youtube that 200,000 of 600,000 votes were verified through a machine rather than manually by a human hand.

“Those are the machines you can set to read the accuracy on the signature,” Republican Assemblyman Al Kramer told the Silver State Times. “You can set it for 40% accurate or 80% and they set it at 40% accurate for 200,000 ballots. What we have is a Democratic majority and a Democratic governor who tweaked the rules so that confidence in the election goes into the toilet.”

Kramer, representing Carson City and parts of Washoe, blames the Legislature for changing the law in June on a partisan basis.

“It’s easier to cheat, and to me that injected a lot of uncertainty and bias into the system,” Kramer said in an interview. “I'm upset that not only did they send a ballot to everybody whether they voted the last couple of elections or not but they also made it so that anybody can pick up those ballots, turn them in and even get paid for it.”