A leading proponent of the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen is on the verge of becoming the chief elections official in Nevada — which would put him in charge of running the vote in the critical swing state for the 2024 presidential election.
If Republican Jim Marchant wins his close secretary of state race, he could fundamentally reshape elections here, with enormous ramifications for how they are run in Nevada. He has called for eliminating mail voting, curtailing early voting and pushing for hand counts of ballots — despite evidence that the practice is more error-prone than using machines — and could generally make it more difficult to vote in the state. If he refused to certify accurate election results down the road, it could sow chaos in the state and nationally.
And Marchant is not alone: He is a leader of a group of hard-right, election-denying candidates in Michigan, Arizona and elsewhere who have similar beliefs. At a rally with former President Donald Trump last month, Marchant promised that his class of pro-Trump secretaries of state would “fix the whole country and President Trump is going to be president again in 2024.”
Despite that, Marchant’s Democratic opponent, Cisco Aguilar, says he’s still not getting the help he needs to win.