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March 28, 2024

Nevada elections chief: 63,000 voter names made inactive

Nevada Las Vegas Voting

John Locher / AP

In this June 14, 2016, file photo, a woman walks out of a polling place after voting in the Nevada primary election in Las Vegas.

Updated Thursday, April 5, 2018 | 4:11 p.m.

CARSON CITY — More than 63,000 people whose names were moved last month from active to inactive status on Nevada voter registration rolls can still vote, a top state elections official said Thursday.

Most probably moved without updating their voter registration address, said Wayne Thorley, deputy elections official to Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske.

Cegavske announced late Wednesday that the state tallied 1.4 million active registered voters statewide during regular voter list maintenance in March, down nearly 4.3 percent from February.

About 4.8 percent of Democratic party voter names were moved to inactive status during the month, and 2.6 percent of Republican party names, a statement from Cegavske said.

Thorley said the inactive voters were identified by mailed cards that were returned as undeliverable. He said people remain registered to vote for about four years, including federal elections.

Cegavske, a Republican who is running for a second term as secretary of state, said the list maintenance she conducted is required by federal and state voting rights laws.

Active nonpartisan registered voter numbers were reduced by 5.5 percent; both Independent American Party and Libertarian Party of Nevada rolls were cut about 3.9 percent; and the rolls of active registered voters from what Cegavske termed other minor parties decreased by more than 13 percent.

The number of active registered Democratic voters in Nevada is now 38.3 percent, down from 38.6 percent in February, according to secretary of state figures.

Active Republican voters are now at 34.2 percent, up from 33.6 percent.

About 21 percent of active voters statewide identify as nonpartisan, 4.4 percent as Independent American Party members and 1 percent with the Libertarian Party of Nevada, Cegavske said.

One percent identify as members of other minor political parties.

Thorley said people can voluntarily remove their names from voter rolls in writing or by providing information that they have moved out of the jurisdiction.

People also can re-register to vote.

State officials can remove names of people who die, are convicted of a felony or are found by a judge to be mentally incompetent.

Names can be removed from voter rolls if a person fails to respond to forwarded U.S. mail and fails to vote in a second federal general election.

Thorley said the status of inactive voters automatically changes back to active if they make contact with election officials by showing up to vote, requesting an absentee ballot or submitting a voter registration application.

CORRECTION: This story updates and corrects previous reference to cuts from voter registration rolls with state official explaining that people moved from active to inactive status can still vote. | (April 5, 2018)