Nevada Voters Favor State Control of Elections

A new poll of Nevada voters suggests strong support for state control over elections, along with backing for voter ID requirements and changes to the state’s mail ballot system.

The February survey of 600 Nevadans, conducted by The Tarrance Group and sponsored by the nonprofit RightCount Nevada, found that 80% of respondents believe states should set and run their own elections, with federal agencies playing a limited oversight role.

The poll also found majority support for changing Nevada’s universal vote-by-mail system. About 55% of respondents said they favor repealing the current law that automatically sends ballots to all registered voters and instead moving to an opt-in system. Support varied significantly by party, with 75% of Republicans in favor compared to 34% of Democrats.

As the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a case about counting mail ballots after Election Day in Mississippi, a decision could impact Nevada’s four-day grace period. The poll shows that 51% of respondents support receipt of all mail ballots by Election Day.

However, it’s important to note that statistics can be misleading depending on how officials present the data.

Voter ID requirements also received strong backing in the poll. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they support requiring identification to vote, while 34% opposed the measure. Nevada voters will weigh in on a voter ID ballot initiative again in November 2026, after a similar measure passed with 73% support in 2024 and must be approved a second time to take effect.

The Tarrance Group, one of the Republican Party’s most prominent polling and strategic research firms, has spent nearly five decades shaping campaign messaging and election strategy for GOP candidates across the country. A closer look at its history reveals deep ties not just to Republican victories, but to the party’s long-running internal divide between its grassroots base and its establishment wing.

Founded in 1977 in Houston by veteran GOP pollster V. Lance Tarrance Jr., the firm quickly embedded itself in Republican politics. Tarrance brought with him a résumé that reads like a greatest hits list of pre-modern GOP power: Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and later, John McCain.

Yes, that John McCain.

For voters who view “Republican In Name Only” as more than just a throwaway insult, McCain isn’t a footnote but a warning label. Tarrance didn’t just brush past him either; he served as a senior strategist for McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. That puts one of the GOP’s most famous “reach across the aisle” figures squarely in the firm’s orbit.

And McCain isn’t alone.

Over the decades, The Tarrance Group has helped elect more than 110 Republican governors, senators, and members of Congress. That sounds impressive until you start sorting through the names. The firm’s client list has included figures such as John Kasich and Charlie Baker, as well as other consultant-friendly Republicans who have built careers on moderation, compromise, and, depending on who you ask, blurring the line between the parties.

That’s not an accident. It’s the business model.

When Ed Goeas took over the firm in 1991 and moved it to the Washington, D.C. orbit, The Tarrance Group didn’t just grow—it became a pillar of the Republican consulting class. Goeas, a longtime insider with ties to the National Republican Congressional Committee, helped transform the firm into a data-driven powerhouse. Under his leadership, it won awards, expanded nationally, and cemented its role as a go-to shop for establishment candidates.

But it also doubled down on the kind of politics that drives the base up the wall.

Goeas became a central figure in the “let’s all just get along” wing of Republican strategy, co-running the long-running Battleground Civility Poll with Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. The project pairs a Republican firm with a Democratic one to produce surveys emphasizing compromise, cooperation, and reducing political division.

Exactly the language that makes grassroots voters reach for the aspirin.

To be clear, there’s no evidence that the Tarrance Group works for Democratic candidates. Their client roster remains firmly Republican. But the ongoing partnership with a Democratic firm, even in the name of “civility,” is enough to raise eyebrows among voters who see politics less as a group therapy session and more as a contest with actual consequences.

Today, the firm is led by President and CEO B.J. Martino, alongside longtime partners Dave Sackett and Brian Tringali. The current leadership continues to serve a roster of Republican officeholders, including more conservative figures aligned with the party’s modern direction.

Still, the firm’s DNA hasn’t changed. It remains a product of the pre-Trump Republican establishment: methodical, data-obsessed, and often more comfortable talking about “messaging” than drawing hard ideological lines.

That’s where the tension lies.

The Tarrance Group insists its mission is to turn data into a winning strategy. And by raw electoral math, it has succeeded. But critics argue that winning elections and representing voters aren’t always the same thing—and that decades of consultant-driven politics helped create the very frustration reshaping the GOP today.

So how many “RINOs” has The Tarrance Group helped elect?

There’s no official tally, but the answer is uncomfortable for anyone looking for purity: more than a few. When you’ve been in the business since the Goldwater era and worked with everyone from Reagan to McCain to Kasich, you don’t come out ideologically spotless.

You come out connected. Very connected.

Whether that makes The Tarrance Group a trusted Republican institution or a relic of a party many voters are trying to leave behind depends on who you ask. But one thing is certain: it isn’t an outsider operation.

It’s the house that the establishment built.