Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and Attorney General Aaron Ford hold a press briefing regarding security for the upcoming 2024 election cycle Wednesday Jan 10, 2024.
Thursday, May 23, 2024 | 2 a.m.
With the June 11 primary election drawing ever closer and in-person early voting beginning Saturday, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar outlined new policies Wednesday aimed to help ensure quicker and more reliable ballot counting.
To help address previous concerns with vote-counting speed, the secretary of state’s office is requiring county clerks and registrars to begin counting votes from mail-in ballots and early in-person voting at 8 a.m. on Election Day. Those initial results will be sent to the secretary’s office by 6 p.m. Election Day and announced once polls throughout the state are closed and all voters in Nevada have cast their ballot.
“The new guidance is very important as more and more voters opt to participate in the electoral process in different ways, either during early voting or by mail. We will be able to release more data to the public more quickly with this new process,” Aguilar said. “This also gives counties more time to process and tabulate results than they’ve had before, as they face intense pressure from the public to release these results quickly.”
The new guidelines are one part of a larger push by the secretary of state’s office to increase election efficiency and engage the community in voting. In April, the office announced its partnership with Vet the Vote, a national organization that mobilizes veterans to serve as poll workers in their communities.
Aguilar said Clark and Washoe counties were in “strong positions” for the primary with the number of poll workers so far, but the general election would ask more of volunteers. The secretary’s office has also met with officials from the two counties regarding the tallying changes due to their proportion of voters. Clark and Washoe represent over 88% of active registered voters, according to data from the secretary of state’s website.
Aguilar emphasized the new requirements and efforts to more quickly tally the votes would not come at the expense of election integrity, noting that mail-in ballots were secure, and officials would be vigilant with all voting documents.
“The secrecy of the ballot is still our top priority,” Aguilar said. “Compromising the secrecy of the ballot by releasing results early is a crime, and I will work with the attorney general to hold anyone accountable if this becomes necessary.”
Concerns in the state arose during the February presidential preference primary after a glitch in Washoe County’s voter registry system falsely listed some voters had cast ballots when they hadn’t. While the glitch — which happened in multiple counties — did not affect actual vote totals, Aguilar said Wednesday the issue was emblematic of the need for the upcoming Voter Registration & Election Management Solution Project.
Also known as VREMS, the singular voter registration database has been in production since 2021 after the Nevada Legislature passed Assembly Bill 422, requiring a new centralized system. The VREMS system is on track to be ready in July, Aguilar said, after the primary but before the November general election.
“First of all, we are here as a state to support the local counties with whatever they need in this time. But I think it also .... shows the importance of the VREMS system,” Aguilar said. “The mail ballot system and voter registration system that Washoe uses is called DIMS, and I think you’re seeing the challenges of a legacy system. We are here to ensure that we continue to move forward and ensure that these things don’t happen in the future.”
Over 4,700 mail-in ballots and 120 effective absentee system votes have already been collected, Aguilar said, as early in-person voting for the primary starts Saturday.
“What we’re trying to do is decrease that timeframe to be able to give the public the information that they want and desire,” Aguilar said. “This is not about putting additional strain, this is about creating efficiencies and allowing the staff and the clerks to be able to be more efficient in the work that they’re doing.”
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