WASHINGTON _ Donald Trump's campaign has filed a lawsuit in Nevada, alleging that polls were improperly kept open late in the Las Vegas area during early voting.
The filing comes as the surge of Latinos voting early in Nevada has Hillary Clinton's campaign expressing confidence that it will win the state, which was nearly a dead heat in polls leading up to election day. Before the filing of the suit Monday night, Trump charged that the long lines of voters who were permitted to cast ballots after the poll closing time was the sign of a rigged election.
But Nevada law clearly states that polls are to stay open to accommodate eligible voters in line at closing time. A hearing for the case was scheduled for Tuesday, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. The defendant is Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria.
The filing suggested the Trump campaign is preparing to contest the outcome of the election should Trump lose and choose not to concede. It targeted polling places in the Las Vegas area with large populations of minority voters, according to CNN.
At a rally in Reno on Saturday night, Trump alleged that polling locations in Clark County had been kept open way beyond their closing time to bus in Democratic voters. In a conference call with reporters, officials from the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign declined to discuss the suit.
Clark County officials said in a statement that the lawsuit requests they preserve the records from early voting, which they are already doing, as it is required by law.
Clinton adviser Neera Tanden said it is the Trump campaign that is attempting the rigging.
"This is a desperate attempt by the Trump campaign to actually rig the vote," she said Tuesday on MSNBC. "This is a blatant attempt to depress the vote."
Nevada political analyst Jon Ralston tweeted that the Trump lawsuit is "insane" in a state that clearly allows the polls to remains open until everyone in line has voted. He linked to tweets from former Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller, who posted the statute that states "voting must continue until those voters have voted."
"If there are people in line waiting to vote at 7pm, voting must continue until everyone votes," Miller wrote. "We still live in America, right?"
