Noted Columnists Warn of Far-Right Election Denier, SOS Candidate Jim Marchant
“‘It’s a badge of honor for me,’ he said of some calling him an election denier” – Reno Gazette-Journal
Two prominent columnists are continuing to sound the alarm about far-right secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant’s record of promoting unproven claims about Nevada’s elections. The stakes are even higher in a race that will determine who oversees the state’s elections heading into the 2028 presidential contest. In columns published this week, John L. Smith and Mark Barabak highlighted the dangers of Marchant’s repeated challenges to the integrity of Nevada’s voting system, including his past claims that elections are fraudulent and his proposals that would fundamentally overhaul how the state conducts elections.
Nevada Independent: “Stop the Steal” Actually Means Something in 2026
- Aguilar is standing firm against mounting pressure and partisan criticism. Not surprisingly, one critic is his Republican challenger for secretary of state, Jim Marchant, who offered a head-scratching response to Aguilar’s rejection of federal interference with Nevada’s constitutionally protected role to manage its own elections.
- A devout MAGA election denier who trafficks in dizzying voter fraud conspiracies, Marchant mocked the secretary of state’s criticism with a claim that Aguilar’s first reaction to a federal threat was to hit back at the “investigation.”
- But speaking of things that don’t encourage confidence, in a 2022 primary debate during his first run for secretary of state, Marchant announced with great confidence and zero facts, “Your vote hasn’t counted for decades,” due to fraudulent elections. “You haven’t elected anybody. The people that are in office have been selected. You haven’t had a choice.”
- In Marchant’s mind, the state’s reliable voting machines were essentially demon-possessed and out to get him. A few years later during a voter voodoo dog-and-pony show in front of the Nye County Commission, Marchant and others encouraged elected officials to throw out their voting machines. At one point, paper ballots were counted by hand.
- “You do not rebuild trust by telling people not to look,” Marchant tells us.
- Nor do you fortify election security by peddling conspiracy theories, or shoveling bullshit into the public square and calling it proof of fraud.
- Labor Day marks the start of the final push to Election Day. Although there are many competitive races, the greatest battle is to maintain our free and fair elections
LA Times: Integrity on the ballot: Election deniers target secretary of state races in key states
- The stakes in those races are considerable, said Peverill Squire, a University of Missouri expert on state elections. “Who’s going to be administering [election] rules? How they’re going to interpret those rules?” he said, offering examples of the office’s import. “Whether they’re going to try to make it more difficult to vote, or easier to vote. Whether they’re going to try to engage in activities that will further raise doubts in some people’s minds about how fairly the election has been conducted.”
- The contest in Nevada is a rerun of 2022, when Democrat Cisco Aguilar narrowly defeated Republican Jim Marchant. Undeterred, Marchant continues to spout gibberish about sabotaged voting machines and other far-fetched claims of election chicanery. Among the remedies he’s floated, according to the Nevada Independent, is using technology to measure voters’ heartbeat as a way to verify their identity.
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