Judge strikes down Rodimer’s bid for new election in Clark County

A Clark County district court judge on Wednesday struck down a defeated Republican congressional candidate’s attempt to force a new election in Clark County, marking the fourth such ruling against a conservative candidate or group in less than a week.

Judge Trevor Atkin ruled against Dan Rodimer, who was defeated in his bid for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional district by incumbent Susie Lee by some 12,000 votes, after a brief hearing Wednesday morning.

“Despite the concerns raised in (Rodimer’s) complaint, this court simply has no jurisdiction to hear this case,” Atkin said, in reference to a state law that requires election contests in U.S. House of Representative races go before the House.

Even if he had jurisdiction, Atkin said, he agrees with Nevada State Democratic Party attorney Bradley Schrager’s interpretation of the law cited by Rodimer’s attorney, Craig Mueller, in his complaint: That law was meant to deal with elections derailed by natural disasters, not issues with alleged improper voting.

The Nevada Supreme Court certified the state’s election results on Tuesday.

Mueller began the hearing by making a series of major fraud allegations, saying he identified more than 13,000 ballot discrepancies in the last 48 hours. He explained these cases involve voters who all registered in the last three months and all forgot to list their sex and birth date.

He further alleged 951 dead people voted in Rodimer’s race. He did not elaborate further or cite evidence for these claims during the hearing.

Mueller attempted, unsuccessfully, to argue that Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria’s alleged poor handling of mail-in ballots did amount to the “loss of an election” needed under the law to call a new vote.

Both Schrager and County Counsel Mary-Anne Miller focused, as they have in previous cases, on the improper nature of the filing and lack of evidence in Mueller’s claim.

Mueller has filed a series of similar lawsuits on behalf of GOP candidates. At least three have been heard since late last week, and all three have been dismissed: cases brought by Rodimer, congressional candidate Jim Marchant and State Senate candidate April Becker.

Another Clark County judge also dismissed an attempt to void the election made by former U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle’s Election Integrity Project Nevada.

President Donald Trump is also asking a state court to overturn Nevada’s election results in a separate case underway in Carson City.

Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.