VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nearly two years after signing documents attempting to overthrow Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat in NevadaJim Hindle thanked everyone gathered in the commission rooms of a historic Nevada boom town and asked them to bear with him as he learned how to oversee elections in rural Storey County.
Hindle was another substitute in what was a revolving door of county election officials across Nevada as the 2022 midterms approached. He had just ousted the interim clerk, who had stepped in after the previous clerk resigned.
But Hindle’s tenure in this heavily Republican county is part of a trend in battleground states where fake voters retained their influence over elections until 2024.
He is one of six Republicans who were indicted December 6 by Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford for their alleged roles in attempt to overthrow the election result in the swing state, which Democrat Joe Biden door by more than 33,000 votes over the GOP president.
Hindle and the others, who pleaded not guilty to charges of filing and using a false instrument on Dec. 18. coordinated with Trump’s team directly, according to transcripts of testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives committee that investigated the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Hindle told The Associated Press he would continue to run local elections despite the charges, which could land him up to nine years in prison. He declined to comment further.
Wisconsin, Arizona and Pennsylvania also have fake voters involved in the 2024 election.
The list includes Bob Spindell, who remains a member of Wisconsin’s bipartisan election commission despite Democrats’ calls for his removal. A Republican legislative leader who nominated Spindell said he would not rescind the nominationcalling the fake voter scheme a “failed legal strategy” and “not a sinister plot to overturn an election.”
Spindell and the fake voters of Wisconsin agreed to a settlement admitting that their actions were “part of an attempt to inappropriately overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
In Arizona, fake voters Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern are powerful Republican lawmakers. Hoffman is chairman of the Senate Elections Committee and Kern heads the Judiciary Committee. Arizona Attorney General Investigates Role of Fake Voters; no one has been charged.
Hoffman’s position makes him a gatekeeper to virtually every election law under consideration. This has become particularly contentious in the western swing state, where Republicans have been aggressive in trying to overturn or cast doubt on Democratic victories.
The FBI questioned Sam DeMarco, a member of the three-member Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, board of elections in 2022. Despite subpoenas issued to DeMarco and other Republican electors in the state, they faced no legal consequences after calling their electoral votes “conditional” in case Trump won in court. DeMarco has often criticized Trump’s influence on the state party.
Michigan is a rare example where a fake voter lost influence due to accusations. In July, the Michigan Office of Elections rod Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot, from running elections as state attorney general, filed criminal charges against him and 15 other Republicans for their role as bogus voters.
Burt Jones, who was a Georgia state senator during his time as a bogus elector, later won a race to become the state’s lieutenant governor. In this position, he does not directly oversee elections, but can influence legislation on voting and vote counting.
In Nevada, Storey County’s 3,750 active registered voters represent only a fraction of the state’s electorate. Even if Hindle and others remain in their roles as election officials and lawmakers, state election officials and state and federal courts can check their authority, said Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s office, which runs statewide elections, did not respond to questions about whether the indictment could affect Hindle’s electoral role.
But Hindle’s influence doesn’t stop at the county lines. He is one of three fake voters involved in the state Republican Party’s hosting of a party-run caucus in early February, scheduled just days after the state’s presidential primary. The Nevada GOP has be subject to scrutiny For confusing voters with dueling elections and for adopt rules which many say favors Trump over other Republican candidates.
The Nevada GOP did not respond to a request for comment on whether the indictment affects members’ ability to hold the caucus.
Nevada Republican Chairman Michael McDonald, one of the indicted bogus voters, said the state party was bypassing the primaries because the Democratic-controlled Legislature failed to consider the governor’s proposals Republican regarding a voter ID requirement and other measures.
On December 17, several fake Nevada voters attended a Trump rally in Reno, where the former president personally thanked three of them, including Hindle and McDonald, while saying they were treated unfairly. He did not mention the specific accusations.
McDonald introduced Trump at the rally, while encouraging the crowd to defend and vote for Trump during the party-led caucus. He ended the speech with the same commitment he did at a rally in Octoberbefore his indictment.
“Give us a fair election, I’ll give you the next president of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” he said.
Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a program that places journalists in local newsrooms.
