The Governor of Nevada, Joe Lombardo (r.), is pushes for significant reforms to the Silver State’s electoral system after the 2024 general election results were certified last week. The Nevada Supreme Court and Secretary of State formally certified the election on Tuesday, but Lombardo’s call to action comes amid several issues plaguing Nevada counties during the electoral process.
In one Interview with KTLV, Lombardo said of the delayed results:
First, it is a national embarrassment. And also, it creates an environment of perceived fraud, right, especially when there are certain breeds that change.
Lombardo further clarified that while he does not believe there was widespread voter fraud in Nevada, he noted that the late arrival of ballots has had an impact on the outcome of closely watched elections, including the Senate contest between Democratic incumbent Jacky Rosen and Republican challenger Captain (ret.) Sam Brown.
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After the certification, Lombardo said in a statement:
I am grateful for the work of the Secretary of State and the Nevada Supreme Court. However, it is clear that Nevada’s electoral system requires earnest reform going forward.
One of the biggest problems this year occurred in Pahrump, where voters experienced significant delays on Election Day. Some residents had to wait more than three hours to operate voting machines while others were forced to vote with paper ballots. The situation added to growing frustration with the state’s election procedures.
Additionally, just before Clark County was set to certify its results, over a thousand mail-in ballots were discovered and not yet tabulated. Although these uncounted ballots had no impact on the overall outcome of the election, the discovery raised concerns about the efficiency and transparency of the process.
Lombardo said:
The time it takes us to count ballots and complete our elections in Nevada is simply unacceptable. Nevadans deserve timely election results, and the current system fails to deliver on that promise.
Lombardo, who championed election integrity during his 2022 campaign, has proposed reforms including requiring voters to choose mail-in voting instead of the COVID-era universal mail-in ballot. He also supports setting an earlier deadline for the receipt of mail-in ballots to ensure all votes are counted by Election Day. Notably, a voter ID measure — a policy Lombardo has previously supported — was overwhelmingly approved by Nevadans on a ballot question last month. with 73 percent of the vote.
Still, the additional reforms must be implemented as part of the biannual legislative session, which is scheduled to begin in February. Lombardo promises the Republican caucus will enact election reforms, while the Democratic-controlled Legislature has rejected the governor’s previous proposals, including a 2023 bill that would have required mail-in ballots to be received by the last day of early voting The results published on election day could be counted. Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager called it a “non-starter.”
As I have already reported:
In April, Governor Lombardo introduced election reform legislation. SB 405, which aims to implement several changes. It would reverse the general mail-in voting law AB 321, passed in 2021, by allowing voters to opt in to requesting an absentee ballot instead of automatically targeting every voter listed as lively in the state. The bill also establishes a requirement to present a photo ID when voting and to conduct identification verification on mail-in ballots to ensure matching with Social Security or driver’s license numbers. Mail-in ballots would be counted if they are received by the close of business on Election Day. The bill would also impose a 30-ballot limit on unauthorized ballot harvesting (which was legalized in Nevada in 2021) and require voters to submit affidavits and reports to the Secretary of State’s office.
While Lombardo focuses on getting the shit done before the end of the legislative session on June 5, Nevada Democrats have resisted and called for “no compromise.” On Wednesday, Nevada’s top Democrats held a press event outside the Statehouse where they denounced the governor’s proposals and laid out their own priorities. Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D) said there will be “no room for compromise” on issues of mail-in voting and voter ID, criminal justice, health care and education.
Yeager said of the election legislation:
It is simply a solution in search of a problem.
However, the growing bipartisan consensus on the need for timely results suggests that, contrary to Yeager’s assertion The long delays in publishing results are indeed a significant problem. Lombardo’s continued reform efforts will be a key theme as the state prepares for the next legislative session in 2025.
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The Republican governor of Nevada, Lombardo, is trying to prevent resistance from the Democrats with election reforms
