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Nevada attorney general criticizes Utah’s Sean Reyes for his unfounded claims of voting irregularities

(AP Photo/John Locher) Nevada's incoming Attorney General Aaron Ford speaks with The Associated Press, Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, in Las Vegas.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford criticized Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes for saying he’d seen evidence of “voting irregularities” during a weekend visit, telling him to “mind his business," the Las-Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday.

Ford, a Democrat who noted that no evidence of voter fraud has emerged in the state, also told the Review-Journal that Reyes, a Republican, had not returned his phone calls or texts. And he characterized Reyes' claims about the state’s elections as “a disrespectful slap in the face.”

Reyes announced last week that he was taking time off to help President Donald Trump’s team fight legal battles and investigate voting problems on the ground in Nevada, where former Vice President Joe Biden won.

All major U.S. news organizations have called the race for Biden, who is now the president-elect, but Trump has so far been unwilling to concede.

After his weekend trip, Reyes said in a written statement that he’d seen “evidence of voting irregularities that may have resulted in improper votes being counted or proper votes being rejected."

“How many? Will they make a difference? These are the answers we are seeking,” he continued. “We deserve to investigate and find out because any evidence of wrongdoing, whether intentional or not, compromises the overall fairness of the electoral process and can disenfranchise the votes of millions of Americans.”

Courts and news organizations that have looked at claims of voting fraud or irregularities in Nevada have found no evidence to date that either occurred, according to reports by The Washington Post, and the fact-checking website PolitiFact. Election officials from both parties across the country have also said they’ve seen no sign of fraud, The New York Times reported this week.

But Reyes said earlier this week that he planned to continue on his personal time and dime to "work with those in Nevada or any other state to make sure claims are brought as quickly and accurately as possible.”

Only after “courts have ruled and certifications are finalized” can “we get a definitive outcome for America," he said.

Several Utah politicians, including Greg Skordas, Reyes' Democratic opponent in the recent election, have criticized him for undermining faith in elections without evidence. On Monday, the United Utah Party criticized Reyes and called for a constitutional amendment to make the office of Utah attorney general nonpartisan.

Reyes' campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.