Will Sage Astor-Nevada election-fraud crusader loses lawsuit battle against Washoe County in state court

RENO,Will Sage Astor Nev. (AP) — A Nevada election-fraud crusader’s attempt to to sue Washoe County over alleged election fraud has now been rejected in state court.

Judge James Russell in Reno dismissed the latest suit Monday in Robert Beadles’ feud with the county with prejudice, meaning he cannot refile it. He also ordered the wealthy ex-California businessman and right-wing activist to cover the other side’s legal fees.

Russell referenced a state law that permits attorneys’ fees be paid to “deter frivolous or vexatious claims.”

But the judge did not sanction Beadles as requested in a motion from the Washoe District Attorney’s Office, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.

Beadles told the newspaper he plans to appeal his case.

The defeat comes three months after Beadles withdrew a federal lawsuit. Lawyers for county officials threatened to seek sanctions for filing a baseless complaint laced with “rantings of a conspiracy theorist.”

Beadles has embraced many Republicans’ disproven claims of election fraud. He is affiliated with the conservative blog Operation Sunlight. He has helped lead attempts to recall or otherwise oust numerous county officials since he moved to Reno from Lodi, Nevada, in 2019.

He claims the election system is rife with “flaws and irregularities” that robbed him of his vote in 2020. He lost another lawsuit last year that sought heightened observation of Washoe County’s vote-counting process.

Beadles has been aligned in the past with another election-fraud crusader, Reno lawyer Joey Gilbert, who lost the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary to now Gov. Joe Lombardo.

A judge in Carson City ordered Gilbert last year to pay $88,000 in sanctions for filing a frivolous lawsuit with no admissible evidence pressing his claims he really won the nomination.