With the end of early in-person voting in Nevada, those looking to cast their ballots must now either mail them in or show up on Election Day. As the state braces for a high-stakes election, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar assured voters and media that Nevada's elections would be "fair and secure," according to statements reported by FOX5 Vegas. Aguilar highlighted the robust measures in place, saying, "Voting will be safe and secure, and results will be accurate…We welcome observers, anyone who wants to come in and review how we are doing things here in Nevada because we are doing them in the right way."
The confidence in this year's procedures stands in the shadow of controversies from the new centralized voter registration system's debut. Errors in the system had previously raised concerns, incorrectly marking voters and moving some to inactive status, as reported by ProPublica. These glitches were ostensibly fixed ahead of the early voting period. Despite this, former interim Washoe County registrar Cari-Ann Burgess expressed lingering doubts about the system's reliability. "I'm incredibly worried that this is going to hurt this election," Burgess told ProPublica, planning to file a whistleblower complaint. Her concerns have not been echoed by other county clerks, who have generally expressed confidence in the system after concerted efforts to rectify initial issues.
Nevada has spent substantial resources tightening election security, with Aguilar detailing the state's preparedness. "I do have to be careful not to disclose our entire security plan for a lot of reasons, but I can tell you we are in contact with the sheriffs in our counties. We have the Election Integrity Task Force which is made up of federal, state, and local law enforcement. We are communicating daily about issues," Aguilar shared with FOX5 Vegas. Among the safety protocols, a new measure to thwart duplicate voting has been implemented, catching those attempting to vote in different counties or by both mail and in-person.
Despite the smooth operations described by officials, the tumultuous journey of the new system has been intensive. Since early voting commenced on October 19, 2024, isolated balloting errors have been reported. Still, the lack of widespread complaints suggests that the new setup is functioning as intended, Gabriel Di Chiara, Nevada’s chief deputy secretary of state, explained to ProPublica. In essence, while the path to modernizing Nevada's electoral process has seen its share of bumps, the state appears eager to prove the solidity of its systems as the nation watches on.
