Nevada Officials Eye Election Law Reform

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar announced plans to collaborate with Governor Joe Lombardo and state lawmakers to enhance the state’s election laws before the 2026 midterm elections.

Aguilar stressed that while the election highlighted the strength of Nevada’s system, challenges persisted, particularly in processing mail-in ballots. He expressed frustration over delays and called for legislative action to address the issue.

Lombardo echoed similar frustrations, particularly regarding extended deadlines for mail ballots and other procedures established under sweeping election reforms passed by Democratic lawmakers in 2021. During the last legislative session, Lombardo proposed measures to ensure election integrity, including requiring photo identification, limiting ballot harvesting, and mandating that mail-in ballots be received on or before Election Day.

The 2024 general election saw a record 1,487,887 ballots cast, marking a 72.84 percent turnout among Nevada’s 2,042,607 active registered voters. Of those ballots, 45 percent were submitted by mail, 37 percent during early voting, and 18 percent on Election Day. Youth voter turnout was particularly noteworthy, with 57.2 percent of voters aged 18-29 participating—significantly exceeding the national average of 42 percent.

Despite the high turnout, the process was not without controversy. Approximately 150,000 ballots got processed after Election Day, with post-election ballots skewing heavily Democrat. On Thursday, November 14, Clark County announced it had “found” another 1,608 ballots and counted without proper observation.

The Nevada GOP has since called for a recount.

Concerns over voter roll maintenance also emerged. Aguilar conducted maintenance to remove outdated registrations between December 2024 and February 2025. In the lead-up to the 2024 election, 185,644 NVRA notices went out, and at least 138,267 registrations became inactivated statewide. However, Washoe County Commissioner Mike Clark uncovered discrepancies, noting that nearly 29,000 voters in Washoe County alone were still active, and 21,000 ballots returned as undeliverable.