The Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee (RNC), and GOP state affiliates have filed lawsuits against two swing states alleging improper election conduct.
The RNC and Michigan GOP (MIGOP) claim that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is failing to mandate a verification process for absentee ballots.
“During this year’s statewide primary, the RNC Election Integrity team discovered that many ballots were approved for tabulation without the required statement that the signature was verified,” Trump’s campaign said in a press release. “This is a direct result of Secretary Benson’s guidance to election officials, which omits the requirement that clerks mark ballots with a statement that the signatures have been verified.”
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley claimed Benson’s guidance will result in the “improper handling and counting of absentee ballots.”
“We are suing to protect absentee ballot safeguards in Michigan which will help make it easy to vote and hard to cheat in the Wolverine State,” he added.
Though Benson did not refer to the lawsuit specifically, she assured voters that Michigan’s election would be secure.
“To be clear: Only US citizens can vote in our elections, and secure processes are in place in every state to ensure and reinforce that,” she wrote in a Thursday X post. “Any suggestion otherwise undermines the integrity of our elections and leads directly to threats to the very election workers committed to protecting democracy.”
In a separate legal filing, the Trump campaign, RNC and Nevada GOP (NVGOP) allege Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar is illegally permitting non-citizens to register to vote.
“We have discovered evidence of thousands of non-citizens on Nevada's voter rolls who may be able to cast ballots this November,” the campaign wrote in a statement. “Data from the 2020 general election reveals that 6,360 individuals listed in the DMV’s non-citizen file were also registered to vote, and 3,987 of these individuals cast a ballot in the 2020 election.”
“Any efforts to allow non-citizens to vote threatens the very foundation of our elections and diminishes the power of lawful voters across our state,” said NVGOP Chairman Michael McDonald. “This isn't just a legal issue—it’s about protecting the rights of Nevadans and preserving the integrity of our elections."
On Wednesday, Aguilar announced the implementation of the Voter Registration and Election Management Solution, which “creates a centralized, statewide voter registration database and election management system.”
“All eyes are on Nevada this year – it’s more important than ever that Nevada is at the forefront of election security and transparency,” said Aguilar. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – Nevada runs some of the most safe, secure and accessible elections in the country. The new voter registration and election management system only enhances those safeguards and increases our transparency.”
According to FiveThirtyEight, Vice President Kamala Harris currently holds a 1.7-point lead over former President Donald Trump in Michigan, and a paper-thin .3-point lead in Nevada.
In the 2020 presidential election, Biden won both Michigan and Nevada with 154,188 and 33,596 votes, respectively.
