Nevada GOP censures secretary of state who refused to investigate unfounded election-fraud claims

The Nevada Republican Party Central Committee has voted to censure the state’s Republican secretary of state after she refused to investigate unfounded allegations of voter fraud in the state.

The resolution, passed Saturday, censures Barbara Cegavske — Nevada’s only statewide Republican elected official — for “disregard of her oath of office by failing to investigate election fraud, her dismissive public statements regarding election integrity concerns, and her failure to ensure compliance with Nevada and federal election law, these actions being at least partially causal in November 2020 election irregularities and fraud.”

There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Nevada or any other US state during the 2020 election. Despite this, Republican state lawmakers across the country have echoed former President Donald Trump’s voting conspiracy theories and, in some cases, advanced new election bills that disproportionately affect Democratic voters.

Cegavske rebuked her censure and the unfounded allegations that fueled it in a statement, asserting: “My job is to carry out the duties of my office as enacted by the Nevada Legislature, not carry water for the state GOP or put my thumb on the scale of democracy.”

“Unfortunately, members of my own party continue to believe the 2020 general election was wrought with fraud — and that somehow I had a part in it — despite a complete lack of evidence to support that belief,” she continued.

“Regardless of the censure vote by the Nevada Republican Party Central Committee, I will continue in my efforts to oversee secure elections in Nevada and to restore confidence in our elections, confidence which has been destroyed by those falsely claiming the 2020 general election produced widespread fraud.”

The Nevada Republican Party maintained in a statement later Monday that it “believes in integrity and the rule of law and would never ask our elected officials to ‘put their thumb on the scale.’ “

“The Nevada Republican Party simply holds all elected officials to a high standard and demands that each of them do their job and uphold their Oath of Office,” the statement said.

Nevada was one of the critical battleground states that Trump and his allies targeted with a crush of lawsuits after it became clear now-President Joe Biden had carried the state.

In one instance, a Nevada district judge shot down a lawsuit filed against Cegavske by conservative activist Sharron Angle and her organization, the Election Integrity Project, that sought to halt the certification of the state’s election results confirming Biden’s win.

“The civil remedy of throwing out an election is just a shocking ask,” District Judge Gloria Sturman had said at the time.