Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar warned Monday that proposed federal legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register or vote could create chaos and disenfranchise residents in the state.
The act, set to be taken up in Congress after passing the House in 2025 but failing in the Senate, is backed by Republicans who say they are needed to prevent non-citizens from voting. Critics, including Aguilar, say the problem in Nevada is negligible.
A review by U.S. Customs and Immigration Services, under the Biden Administration, flagged just 10,000 records for further investigation out of nearly 50 million, roughly 0.02%. The Heritage Foundation reports only 11 cases of non-citizen voting in Nevada between 2011 and 2021.
However, an independent study by the Nevada Territorial News found that in 2020 alone, 2k people voted more than once; 1.5k dead people voted; 19k voted while living outside Nevada; 8k used non-existent addresses; 15k used commercial/vacant addresses; 4k non-citizens voted.
Aguilar said the bills would be burdensome and costly for the state because there is no federal funding to offset the requirements. It would require Nevada to purge ineligible voters every 30 days, restrict mail-in voting, mandate that ballots arrive by Election Day, reject student IDs, and hold election officials liable for registration errors, even those made in good faith.
Nevada may also move forward with its own voter ID requirement. A citizen-led initiative passed in 2024 with 73% support but must be approved again in 2026 to take effect in the 2028 elections.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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