Nevada

Indy Explains: How Question 7 would require voter ID in Nevada – The Nevada Independent

Published

2 years ago

September 14, 2024

Indy Explains: How Question 7 would require voter ID in Nevada – The Nevada Independent

After years of Republican-led pushes to implement voter ID laws in Nevada, the question will be posed to voters this November.

Voter ID is among the many election-related policies that have pitted Democrats against Republicans nationwide for years. Republicans have argued it is a necessary measure to ensure election security, while Democrats have said it could disenfranchise voters who do not have a form of identification.

While polling has shown wide support for establishing a voter ID requirement, Nevada is one of 14 states to not require a form of identification while voting, and instead relies on voters’ signatures to verify their identity.

Read below for more information on the implications of the ballot question and the history of the debate in the Silver State.

Summary of what it does: The proposal would amend the Nevada Constitution to require all in-person voters in Nevada to present a valid photo identification — such as a driver’s license, passport, student ID card or concealed weapon permit — before voting.

It would also require those voting by mail to include part of a personally identifiable number — such as their driver’s license number or Social Security number — alongside their signature.

If a majority of voters support the question this year, it would be placed on the 2026 ballot, when another affirmative vote would change Nevada’s Constitution.

How did we get here?: Repair the Vote, a PAC led by former Clark County GOP Chair David Gibbs, filed the petition for the ballot question last November.

A group of well-known Democratic-linked attorneys quickly sued to block the question on the grounds that its description of effect (a 200-word summary of the measure included on signature forms) failed to outline its full implications. The suit also argued that the measure would require a funding source without providing one, and that it was akin to an unconstitutional poll tax because most of the identification options require some kind of payment.

A Carson City judge dismissed the lawsuit in February, and the state Supreme Court upheld that ruling in April, determining that questions regarding a poll tax should not be addressed before the election.

In July, the initiative qualified for the November ballot after election officials verified 131,590 valid signatures and passed the threshold of signatures needed from each of the state’s four congressional districts (25,591).

This is the second attempt at a voter ID ballot question by Repair the Vote. In 2022, a judge blocked a question on the grounds that its description of effect was argumentative. The ruling came too late for the group to amend the question’s language and gather enough signatures.

A bill last year pushed by Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, would have established voter ID in Nevada, but it never received a hearing in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

What have other states done?: Nine states have enacted strict photo ID laws for voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Three states have voter ID requirements but do not require a photo and instead accept documents such as bank statements.

Twenty-four other states have some form of a voter ID law, but they are less strict and have exceptions, such as signing an affidavit of identity or having poll workers vouch for a voter’s identity.

The arguments in favor: Proponents of voter ID say it increases election security and would help rebuild trust in elections. They also say that ID is required for actions such as buying alcohol, seeing a doctor and applying for college — and that elections should be no different.

Supporters are also quick to refer to the widespread popularity of voter ID laws (a Nevada Independent poll last year found 74 percent of respondents in favor, with just 8 percent opposed) and a 2008 study that found the laws had no effect on voter turnout.

The arguments against: Opponents of voter ID laws say it would make it harder to vote and could amount to disenfranchisement.

They argue that voter impersonation is essentially nonexistent in the U.S. and that the law would particularly affect voters in rural areas and tribal communities because of the long distance to DMV offices. A 2022 study by University of California, Berkeley researchers found Black and Latino voters were most affected by voter ID laws in Texas.

Primary funders: Repair the Vote has received more than $300,000 since launching the ballot initiative, mostly from a Virginia-based group called Civic Voter Engagement ($157,000) and Allen Knudson, a Henderson resident who gave $100,000 in January.

The Las Vegas Sands, whose largest shareholder is GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, also has financially supported the effort.

The Better Nevada PAC, which is linked to Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, created an offshoot PAC called the Better Nevada Ballot Advocacy Committee (now known as the Nevada Voter ID Coalition, which is chaired by Lombardo) to raise money for the initiative. Las Vegas Sands made a $1.5 million contribution to the Better Nevada PAC earlier this year, which then transferred $1.4 million to the offshoot PAC.

Battle Born Progress — a progressive group — launched a PAC last month called the Nevada Voter Freedom Alliance to oppose the initiative.

Financial impact: The secretary of state’s office estimated that the initiative would cost the state $6,750 to change processes related to voter check-in and verification of mail ballots, and modify the state’s voter registration system to ensure all necessary data is captured.

The Legislature’s Fiscal Analysis Division also assumed that the state or local governments would incur costs by making the accepted IDs free (to avoid a poll tax). It is unclear how many voters this would apply to and which agencies would be responsible, meaning the full financial impact is unknown.

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Nevada

Best Nevada high schools for athletes? One study has revealed a top 25

Published

7 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Press Room

Best Nevada high schools for athletes? One study has revealed a top 25

Nevada has a rich history of producing athletic legends.

Total number of sports: 24

1. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas)

Total number of sports: 14

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Nevada

Nevada designates more than 119,000 voters inactive

Published

19 hours ago

May 14, 2026

Press Room

Nevada designates more than 119,000 voters inactive

CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) – The State of Nevada says it has designated more than 119,000 voters as inactive ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar says that in the spring of this year, counties updated 14,164 voter records, designated 119,533 voters as inactive and canceled the voter registrations of 7,583 people.

This is in addition to 2025 voter roll maintenance efforts that registered more than 138,000 voters inactive and canceled nearly 177,000 voter registrations.

“State and local election officials are working hard to prepare voters for the upcoming June Primary, and keeping Nevada’s voter rolls up to date is a critical part of that process. County election officials have dedicated significant resources to make sure Nevada’s voter registration records are accurate, so that all eligible Nevadans – and only eligible Nevadans – can cast a ballot,” said Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar. “Mail ballots are being sent to active, registered voters across the state now. Voters can support their local officials’ work by checking and updating their registration information on VOTE.NV.gov.”

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Nevada

Arbor View beats rival Centennial for 5A boys volleyball state title

Published

1 day ago

May 14, 2026

Press Room

Arbor View beats rival Centennial for 5A boys volleyball state title

The Arbor View boys volleyball team has embodied the mindset that it would take the efforts of all 16 players to win the school its first boys volleyball title.

It proved to be the case on Wednesday night against rival Centennial in the Class 5A state championship match, and the Aggies’ efforts all season showed up in the biggest game of the season.

No. 3-seeded Arbor View claimed its first boys volleyball title with a 25-20, 25-27, 25-19, 25-19 victory over top-seeded Centennial at Sunrise Mountain.

“It feels amazing. The boys have worked hard, I don’t even know if I could put it into words,” Arbor View coach Nicole Adarme said. “Our big goal was to stay calm and collected the entire time. I just wanted to reflect that for them.”

Arbor View (28-13-1) let its emotions out after the final point on an Owen Wenger kill. The Aggies huddled and jumped for joy, helped carry injured teammate Gunnar Robinson off the bench, and eventually moved the celebration into the stands with a sea of red from the Arbor View student section.

“It feels absolutely great,” junior middle blocker/outside hitter Risden Miller said. “We trust each other so much. We’re best friends in and out of volleyball, and that really helps us on the court with just competing as a team.”

Even though the two team’s previous meeting on April 14 was a three-set win in league play by Centennial (32-6), Adarme said she knew the fourth meeting of the season for the two northwest rivals wasn’t going to be a sweep on either side.

Arbor View won a back-and-forth first set on a kill from Miller. Then it looked like the Aggies were going to win a close second set, but Centennial got a point for Arbor View being out of rotation, and the Bulldogs won four of the last five points to even the match score to one set apiece.

“That’s the traditional thing (when we play) Centennial (to play long matches), so for us, we just treated it like another set,” Adarme said. “We knew they were going to fight, so how do we respond to that? Our constant conversation was responding to the negative and moving forward in a positive direction.”

Arbor View scored six straight points in the third set to take a 20-15 lead, and the Aggies never let up to get to the fourth set with a chance to win the title. The Aggies took advantage of several Centennial errors to take the lead in the third set on their way to the title.

“We took three deep breaths and reset and recollected ourselves as a team,” Miller said of closing out the final two sets. “That’s just completely huge for rebounding from a lost set.

“For me, personally, just looking at all my best friends on the court, that truly calms me down and I know it calms them down as well.”

Miller recorded 18 kills and Wenger was key at the net with eight kills and eight blocks. The Aggies also got contributions from Graham Blanchard, Kenyon Wickliffe and Robinson before he went down with a lower left leg injury in the fourth set.

Lincoln Larson led Centennial with 19 kills. It’s the first boys volleyball state title for Arbor View and first appearance in the title game after the program reached the state semifinals four previous times.

“We can’t (win) with six, we have to do it with all 16,” Adarme said. “We’ve been training all of them to be ready for big moments and it was an amazing moment for Cooper (Ball, coming in for an injured Robinson) to be able to come in for us.

“We just had to know we couldn’t be outside of ourselves. Where we fell short in the past was trying to be more instead of focusing on what our role is and what our job is.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.

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