‘We Have to Punch Back’: Top Nevada Official Prepares For Possible Election Havoc From Trump

Nevada's top election official, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, is readying his office for federal interference on Nov. 3, including immigration agents at polling places, attempts to seize ballots and a presidential challenge to the state's results. He puts the odds of a challenge very high. Asked by Time last month about those scenarios, President Donald Trump would not exclude a national emergency, the Insurrection Act or ICE agents at polls, saying he rules nothing in or out.

Aguilar's staff has drafted a legal complaint with the parties and jurisdiction left blank so it can be filed within seconds if a federal agent appears at a polling site. Nevada has received seven Department of Justice subpoenas on voting this year, which Aguilar says is more than any other state, and he has learned he is personally under investigation. He calls that a badge of honor. He is also seeking a second term.

Much of the conflict centers on Trump's July claim of about 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote, 16,000 of them in Nevada. Homeland Security officials later conceded they had not manually reviewed the Nevada names and cut the figure to 185.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Time’s reporting. Read the full story at Time →