Court rejects Trump's early voting lawsuit in Nevada

By Esra Kaymak Avci

WASHINGTON

A judge in Nevada on Tuesday rejected a Donald Trump campaign lawsuit that alleged four early voting sites in Las Vegas illegally stayed open too late last week.

The lawsuit the Republican candidate submitted Monday to the court, asked that the records of the sites in question to be impounded and preserved, according to some media reports.

Trump's campaign blames election officials for violating the law by allowing voters to join the line Friday as much as two hours after the 8 p.m. closing time in a district in which Latino voters showed up to the polls in record numbers. The turnout heavily favors Democrat Hillary Clinton.

State law allows voters to cast ballots who are already in line by the close of the polls.

The campaign also sought to have the early voting ballots from Friday not mixed with other ballots.

Judge Gloria Sturman said lawsuit would make public the identities of the poll workers and that could put them at risk for harassment.

She also said such an order could also disclose the private matter of which individual voter cast a ballot for which candidate.

A total of 37 states and Washington DC allow early voting, although the general election is held on the first Tuesday in November.

With polls indicating just a few points separating Trump and Clinton in the race for president, Nevada could play a key role in deciding the next president with its six electoral votes up for grabs in the swing state.