In a 34-page ruling in December, District Court Judge James Todd Russell found “no credible or reliable evidence” that the election was affected by fraud. The plaintiffs didn’t prove that the Nevada Native Vote Project “gave or offered to give any person anything of value for the purpose of manipulating or altering the outcome of the election,” or prove that the project acted on behalf of the Biden campaign, Russell wrote.
The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed Russell’s ruling.
However, Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske’s office released a report in April that stated law enforcement was investigating an allegation that members of the Nevada Native Vote Project violated federal and state laws that prohibit bribes or expenditures to influence voting. A spokesperson for Cegavske said her office doesn’t comment about ongoing investigations.
Richard Hasen, an election law professor at University of California Irvine, said he didn’t know anything specific about the giveaways at issue in Nevada. However, Hasen said giveaways to anyone who votes in a federal election are illegal, even if it is just payment to get people to turn out to vote.
“Yet these giveaways are quite common,” Hasen said. In 2008, Hasen wrote that a free giveaway by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to anyone who showed they voted could violate federal law. Ben & Jerry’s then offered free ice cream to everyone on Election Day. Hasen said giveaways are legal if they are not tied to proof of voting.
We found less information about any giveaways to Native American voters in Arizona.