Nevada Judge Allows ‘Fake Electors’ Case to Proceed Against Six Republican Defendants

A Carson City judge has ruled that forgery charges against Nevada’s six so-called “fake electors” can proceed to a higher court. Judge Derek Dreiling said it was the “hardest call I’ve had to make in my career.”

Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) has pursued the case (see below) for years against the Republican defendants, who include NV GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, Vice Chair Jim Hindle III, Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, former Clark County Republican Party chair Jesse Law, and republicans Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice.

The six Republican defendants are accused of signing documents to certify Donald Trump Nevada’s electoral votes in 2020, despite Joe Biden winning the state by approximately 30,000 votes.

The Attorney General was not present at the trial as he was attending three different fundraisers in Texas for his 2026 campaign for Nevada governor.

Did @AaronDFordNV blow off another court appearance?

Maybe he's still in Texas raising money for his failing gubernatorial campaign.

Wouldn't be surprising since he spent over a third of last year outside of Nevada instead of doing his job.#NVleg #NVgov https://t.co/ub0uxkwItO

— Nevada War Room – Better NV PAC (@BetterNevadaPAC) October 17, 2025

For background, in December 2023, a Clark County grand jury indicted the defendants in the Eighth Judicial District Court and were charged with Offering a False Instrument for Filing, a category C felony, and Uttering a Forged Instrument, a category D felony, for offering a false instrument titled “Certificate of the Votes of the 2020 Electors from Nevada” to the President of the Senate; the Archivist of the United States; the Nevada Secretary of State; and the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. The Offering a False Instrument charge was not included in this latest lawsuit as the statute of limitations has expired.

In June of 2024, Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus dismissed the case citing that the county was not the appropriate jurisdiction. “You have literally, in my opinion, a crime that has occurred in another jurisdiction,” Holthus said. “It’s so appropriately up north and so appropriately not here.”

Ford then refiled the case in Carson City.

Ford has pressed for specific legislation to “directly address” and “criminalize fake-elector schemes” referring to the six defendants’ actions as a “grave offense.”

In legislative testimony, Ford advocated for Senate Bill 133, sponsored by Democratic state Senator Skip Daly, that proposed criminal penalties (4-10 years imprisonment) for anyone found guilt of participating in or “creating a false slate of presidential electors.”

Governor Joe Lombardo (R) vetoed the measure, saying the penalty would be harsher than that for high-level fentanyl traffickers, domestic violence perpetrators and “even some of the most extreme and violent actors on January 6.”

“Because SB 133 does nothing to ensure the security of our elections and merely provides disproportionately harsh penalties for an, admittedly, terrible crime, I cannot support it,” Lombardo stated.

“There is no statute that directly addresses what SB 133 covered – fake electors. There is no statute that criminalizes attempting to pass yourself off as an elector when you are not one. Nor is there a statute that criminalizes fake-elector schemes. SB 133 would have directly criminalized these actions. That’s why I testified in support of it – to create a law that directly addressed the conduct in question. SB 133 passed, but it was unfortunately vetoed by the governor. So, we still don’t have a law that directly addresses fake electors,” Ford told reporters.

“I noted during my testimony for Senate Bill 133 that, “as long as I am Attorney General, I will never stop fighting against those seeking to undermine our elections. I will never stop fighting against those that seek to undermine our democracy. I meant it,” Ford added.