{"id":2340274,"date":"2024-09-12T15:09:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T19:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nevadans-blast-elections-chief-for-impeding-voter-roll-challenges\/"},"modified":"2024-09-12T15:16:15","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T19:16:15","slug":"nevadans-blast-elections-chief-for-impeding-voter-roll-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nevadans-blast-elections-chief-for-impeding-voter-roll-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevadans Blast Elections Chief For Impeding Voter Roll Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnevadans-blast-elections-chief-for-impeding-voter-roll-challenges%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2340274&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A grassroots organization, the Citizen Outreach Foundation (COF), is raising concerns over the actions of\u2063 Nevada&#8217;s Democrat Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar, who has limited citizens&#8217; ability to challenge \u200bpotentially\u200b ineligible voters on the state\u2019s voter rolls. In a \u200dletter to\u200d Aguilar, COF President Chuck Muth questioned a \u2062recent memo that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rnc-files-another-election-related-lawsuit-against-democrat-michigan-secretary-of-state\/\" title=\"RNC Sues Democratic Michigan Secretary of State Over Election Issues\">instructed local election officials<\/a> to reject registrant \u200dchallenges based on a specific law (Section\u2063 547), which requires challengers to have personal knowledge of \u2063the registrant\u2019s eligibility. Muth argues that\u2062 such limitations could undermine election integrity, especially in close elections.<\/p>\n<p>The COF is involved in a project aimed at cleaning up \u2062the voter rolls, using data from the Secretary of State&#8217;s office\u200b and the U.S. Postal Service. They previously \u2062filed a number of eligible\u200b challenges in Clark County, which were rejected on the \u2062grounds that personal knowledge of official government data does not \u200cmeet the\u2062 statutory requirement. The organization then attempted to use\u2064 a different statute (Section 535) to file challenges against almost \u200d4,000 registrants they believe have \u2063moved out of state. However, Aguilar&#8217;s office\u200b claimed that the personal knowledge requirement\u2063 from Section 547 should also apply to challenges made under Section 535.<\/p>\n<p>Muth expressed that the directive issued by the Secretary effectively hinders the COF&#8217;s efforts and could\u2064 lead to doubts regarding election integrity\u2063 due to the inability \u200dto \u200deffectively challenge voter \u200celigibility. He urged Aguilar\u200d to revoke the memo \u2062before early voting begins, stressing the importance of allowing organized citizen \u200befforts to ensure accurate voter \u2064registrations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A grassroots organization is demanding to know why Nevada&rsquo;s Democrat elections chief is limiting citizens&rsquo; ability to challenge potentially ineligible registrants on the state&rsquo;s voter rolls.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter sent to Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar on Sunday, Citizen Outreach Foundation President Chuck Muth questioned the rationale behind a memo issued by the secretary&rsquo;s office to local election officials on Aug. 27 instructing them to refrain from complying with voter registrant challenges made under a specific provision of state law.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If there are raised any doubts about the integrity of any elections in Nevada in November that turn out to be close, it won&rsquo;t be because of &lsquo;right-wing election deniers&rsquo; but because of your actions to thwart the legitimate efforts of our organization to assist with the obviously flawed current system of identifying and removing ineligible voters from the Active voter rolls,&rdquo; Muth wrote. <\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist&nbsp;previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/09\/pigpen-project-puts-boots-on-the-ground-to-expose-nevadas-dirty-voter-rolls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, the Nevada-based Citizen Outreach Foundation (COF) aims to ensure accuracy within the state&rsquo;s voter rolls through its Pigpen Project, which involves consultation with local election officials to identify individuals who are no longer eligible to remain on the Silver State&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-democrats-h-r-1-is-a-power-grab-would-undermine-states-election-rules\/\" title=\"Republicans: Democrats\u2019 H.R. 1 Is a Power Grab, Would Undermine States\u2019 Election Rules\">voter registration lists<\/a>. Muth previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/06\/how-nevadas-practice-of-mailing-a-ballot-to-each-registered-voter-makes-voter-roll-mess-worse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> The Federalist that these local officials &ldquo;have been extremely cooperative and helpful&rdquo; in showing the group the correct procedures for filing challenges.<\/p>\n<h2>The Situation<\/h2>\n<p>In May, the Citizen Outreach Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/pigpenproject.com\/blog\/follow-up-my-conversation-with-nv-sos-aguilar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> roughly a dozen &ldquo;test&rdquo; challenges in Clark County under a provision of Nevada law known as Section 547 <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/06\/how-nevadas-practice-of-mailing-a-ballot-to-each-registered-voter-makes-voter-roll-mess-worse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">using data<\/a> from the secretary of state&rsquo;s office and the U.S. Postal Service&rsquo;s National Change of Address database. It also <a href=\"https:\/\/pigpenproject.com\/blog\/tackling-complex-election-laws-the-battle-to-clean-up-nevadas-voter-rolls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">compared<\/a> this information with the &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-all-mail-balloting-made-nevadas-messy-voter-rolls-worse\/\" title=\"How All-Mail Balloting Made Nevada&#039;s Messy Voter Rolls &#039;Worse&#039;\">official voter registration records<\/a> of 15 other states.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.leg.state.nv.us\/nrs\/nrs-293.html#NRS293Sec547\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Section 547<\/a> mandates that electors who file an affidavit challenging a registrant&rsquo;s eligibility must be &ldquo;registered to vote in the same precinct as the person whose right to vote is [being] challenged&rdquo; and that the challenge must be &ldquo;based on the personal knowledge of the registered voter.&rdquo; A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leg.state.nv.us\/nac\/NAC-293.html#NAC293Sec416\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">separate provision<\/a> of state law defines &ldquo;personal knowledge&rdquo; as used in Section 547 to mean &ldquo;firsthand knowledge through experience or observation of the facts upon each ground that the challenge is based.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The group&rsquo;s May challenges were rejected on &ldquo;the ground that the &lsquo;personal knowledge&rsquo; requirement, as defined in the law, was not met; that personal knowledge of the official government data didn&rsquo;t equate to &lsquo;personal knowledge of the registered voter,&#8217;&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/pigpenproject.com\/blog\/follow-up-my-conversation-with-nv-sos-aguilar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a> Muth.<\/p>\n<p>This prompted the COF to more closely analyze <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leg.state.nv.us\/nrs\/nrs-293.html#NRS293Sec535\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Section 535<\/a>, which permits &ldquo;any elector or other reliable person&rdquo; to file challenges against registrants they have reason to believe are noncitizens or have moved to a different county or state with the &ldquo;intention of remaining there for an indefinite time and with the intention of abandoning [their] residence in the county where registered&rdquo; or registered in a different county or state. Unlike Section 547, however, this statute only requires challengers to affirm &ldquo;that he or she has personal knowledge of the facts set forth in the affidavit.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Using the Section 535 provision, the COF filed challenges on July 29 contesting the eligibility of nearly 4,000 Nevada registrants whom it contends no longer live in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Writing on behalf of Aguilar, Deputy Secretary of Elections Mark Wlaschin claimed in the Aug. 27 memo that the &ldquo;personal knowledge&rdquo; requirement under Section 535 should be interpreted in exactly the same way as the requirement in Section 547. He further instructed clerks to reject challenges made under the former section by organizations like COF that do not fulfill the latter&rsquo;s definition of &ldquo;personal knowledge.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is the opinion of the Secretary of State that such challenges do not meet the requirement of &lsquo;personal knowledge&rsquo; of facts supporting the challenge required by NRS 293.535 and 293.547,&rdquo; Wlaschin wrote. &ldquo;County clerks who receive these challenges should reject them and instruct challengers that personal knowledge gained through firsthand experience or observation of the facts relating to a voter&rsquo;s eligibility is necessary to file a valid challenge under either statute.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Wlaschin subsequently admitted that &ldquo;&lsquo;personal knowledge&rsquo; is not explicitly defined under [Section 535] or implementing regulations,&rdquo; but nonetheless claimed &ldquo;the Secretary views the term to mean the same thing in both statutes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Muth maintained in his letter that the CFO&rsquo;s challenges &ldquo;have more than &lsquo;substantially&rsquo; complied with the intent of the provisions of [the law in question] and that [the] directive to reject them is clearly based on a technical &lsquo;informality&rsquo; that has no bearing on the facts set forth in [the] affidavits.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"View NV SOS August Memo on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/768549288\/NV-SOS-August-Memo#from_embed\">NV SOS August Memo<\/a> by <a title=\"View The Federalist's profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/274202084\/The-Federalist#from_embed\">The Federalist<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Memo Aftermath<\/h2>\n<p>Muth told The Federalist he only learned of the Aug. 27 memo after having it flagged by a county official that day. Aguilar purportedly called him on Aug. 28 to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n<p>While driving and unable to look at the directive at the time of the call, Muth contended that the Democrat secretary&rsquo;s explanation of what the guidance entailed did not comport with what was included in the document. As described in Muth&rsquo;s Sunday letter, Aguilar allegedly claimed the &ldquo;purpose of the memo was to ask clerks\/registrars to consult with their [district attorneys] to see if they have a differing opinion from [his] office&rsquo;s interpretation of &lsquo;personal knowledge&rsquo; as it pertains to Section 535 and forward their argument(s) to [his] office.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I thought maybe I missed something &hellip; [but] when I was able to sit down and read it a couple of hours later, none of that was in the memo itself,&rdquo; Muth told The Federalist. <\/p>\n<p>Muth <a href=\"https:\/\/pigpenproject.com\/blog\/response-to-nevada-secretary-of-states-rejection-of-our-voter-challenges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> that while Wlaschin was not copied on the COF&rsquo;s challenges electronically submitted on July 29, he was copied &ldquo;on the subsequent public records requests related to those challenges, as well as all subsequent challenges&rdquo; filed by the group. Documents obtained by The Federalist show that Wlaschin was, in fact, copied on challenges filed after July 29.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/pigpenproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Pigpen-Project.Memorandum.090324.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">memo<\/a> the COF sent to Aguilar on Sept. 3, the group <a href=\"https:\/\/pigpenproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Pigpen-Project.Memorandum.090324.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> 34,222 additional challenges of allegedly &ldquo;ineligible &lsquo;moved&rsquo; voters&rdquo; it claims remain on the state&rsquo;s &ldquo;active&rdquo; rolls on Aug. 28. The CFO president noted in his Sunday letter that &ldquo;some of the clerks who had promptly and properly processed our challenges that were submitted on July 29, 2024, have since advised that, in light of [the secretary&rsquo;s] directive, they would no longer process subsequent challenges.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Aguilar&rsquo;s office did not respond to The Federalist&rsquo;s request for comment. <\/p>\n<h2>What This Means<\/h2>\n<p>Muth concluded his letter by noting how the Citizen Outreach Foundation has &ldquo;gone above and beyond what is required to more than &lsquo;substantially&rsquo; comply&rdquo; with state law governing voter registration challenges. He also requested the Democrat secretary revoke his Aug. 27 guidance to election clerks before early voting begins.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;[Y]our efforts over the past nine months to discourage and impede our ability to assist the clerks\/registrars in assuring our elections are secure from individuals who have become ineligible to vote in Nevada elections does not engender confidence,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s still time for you to do the right thing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with The Federalist, Muth emphasized how the Aug. 27 directive effectively limits Nevadans&rsquo; ability to challenge potentially ineligible registrants on the state&rsquo;s voter rolls. He cited two memos issued to local election officials by Aguilar&rsquo;s office in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/768549660\/Nevada-SOS-March-Memo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">March<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/768550298\/NV-SOS-April-Memo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">April<\/a> he contended &ldquo;closed off two of [the] three ways for a citizen to be able to challenge the eligibility of a voter based on whether or not they still reside at the address where they registered to vote.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>The Aug. 27 memo effectively &ldquo;closed off the final possibility of us being able to participate in cleaning up the voter rolls,&rdquo; Muth said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why, at the end of my letter, I asked the secretary, &lsquo;If we can&rsquo;t do Sections 535 or 547, then what option is there?&#8217;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>As of Thursday morning, neither Aguilar nor his office have responded to Muth&rsquo;s Sunday communique, according to Muth.<\/p>\n<p>   <a title=\"View Citizen Outreach Foundation Sept. 8 Letter to Secretary Aguilar on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/768548770\/Citizen-Outreach-Foundation-Sept-8-Letter-to-Secretary-Aguilar#from_embed\">Citizen Outreach Foundation Sept. 8 Letter to Secretary Aguilar<\/a> by <a title=\"View The Federalist's profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/274202084\/The-Federalist#from_embed\">The Federalist<\/a> on Scribd<\/p>\n<p>For more election news and updates, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/electionbriefing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electionbriefing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A grassroots organization is seeking clarification on why Nevada&#8217;s Democratic elections chief is restricting citizens&#8217; ability to contest potentially ineligible voters on the state&#8217;s registration lists. In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, Citizen Outreach Foundation President Chuck Muth expressed concerns about a memo from the secretary\u2019s office dated August 27, which instructed local election officials not to comply with voter registrant challenges made under a specific state law provision. Muth argued that if doubts arise regarding the integrity of Nevada&#8217;s elections in November, it would not be due to &#8220;right-wing election deniers,&#8221; but rather because of actions taken by Aguilar&#8217;s office that hinder legitimate efforts to identify and remove ineligible voters from active rolls.<\/p>\n<p>The Citizen Outreach Foundation (COF), based in Nevada, aims to ensure accurate voter rolls through its Pigpen Project, collaborating with local election officials to identify individuals who should no longer be registered. Muth noted that these officials have been very cooperative in guiding COF on how to file challenges properly.<\/p>\n<p>In May, COF filed around a dozen &#8220;test&#8221; challenges in Clark County using data from both the secretary of state\u2019s office and the U.S. Postal Service\u2019s National Change of Address database. They also compared this information against official voter registration records from 15 other states.<\/p>\n<p>According to Section 547 of Nevada law, those filing an affidavit challenging a registrant&#8217;s eligibility must be registered voters within the same precinct as the individual being challenged and must base their challenge on personal knowledge. However, COF&#8217;s May challenges were rejected because they did not meet this &#8220;personal knowledge&#8221; requirement; government data alone was deemed insufficient for establishing personal knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>This led COF to examine Section 535 more closely, which allows any elector or reliable person to challenge registrants believed to be noncitizens or who have moved out of state with no intention of returning. Unlike Section 547, this section only requires challengers affirm they possess personal knowledge regarding their claims.<\/p>\n<p>On July 29, using Section 535 provisions, COF filed challenges against nearly 4,000 registrants they believe no longer reside in Nevada. In response to these actions and following Aguilar\u2019s memo on August 27\u2014where Deputy Secretary Mark Wlaschin stated that \u201cpersonal knowledge\u201d should be interpreted similarly across both sections\u2014local clerks were instructed not only reject such challenges but also inform challengers about needing firsthand experience or observation related directly to each voter&#8217;s eligibility.<\/p>\n<p>Muth contended that despite Wlaschin acknowledging there is no explicit definition for \u201cpersonal knowledge\u201d under Section 535 or its regulations; he insisted it should mean the same as defined under Section 547.<\/p>\n<p>In his letter addressing Aguilar after learning about the memo through county officials on August 27\u2014and after an inconclusive phone call with him\u2014Muth expressed concern over how Aguilar described its intent versus what was actually stated within it.<\/p>\n<p>Following up with additional filings post-memo issuance\u2014including over thirty-four thousand new challenges concerning allegedly \u201cineligible moved voters\u201d\u2014Muth reported some clerks had ceased processing subsequent requests due solely based upon Aguilar\u2019s directive issued earlier.<\/p>\n<p>He concluded his correspondence by urging Aguilar revoke his guidance before early voting begins while emphasizing how recent directives undermine public confidence regarding electoral integrity efforts aimed at removing individuals who are no longer eligible voters within Nevada elections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2340275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/53656719226_76c2a09f98_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[6571,5592,36160,33790,19656],"class_list":["post-2340274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-elections","tag-nevada","tag-political-controversy","tag-voter-rights","tag-voter-roll"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/53656719226_76c2a09f98_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2340274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2340275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2340274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2340274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2340274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}