LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Justice Department on Friday sued Nevada and three other states, claiming they’d failed to provide requested voter roll information.
Nevada officials, however, said the federal government hasn’t answered basic questions about how the information would be kept secure and questioned why officials wanted the data.
WATCH | What to know about the lawsuit
Justice Dept. sues Nevada over voter rolls
The 10-page lawsuit, filed in federal District Court in Nevada, says the government is seeking the information to enforce the provisions of the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Civil Rights Act.
It says the Justice Department asked the state on June 25 for information including a copy of its computerized statewide voter registration list. It said the information could be sent via encrypted email or by using the department’s secure file-sharing system.
The state immediately replied, sending a copy of the voter registration list, including names, addresses and birthdates, but not drivers license information or the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
The department responded on Aug. 14, again asking for the full database and adding “the purpose of the request is to ascertain Nevada’s compliance with the list maintenance requirements of” federal election laws.
The state, according to the lawsuit, wrote back to say the federal government had no basis for the request and claimed it was concerned about privacy of voter data.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare Nevada’s refusal to provide the entire database unlawful, and order the state to turn it over.
In response, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said in a statement Friday that the state’s concerns have gone unaddressed.
“The Department of Justice is making sweeping demands of states to hand over private voter data. Despite our simple requests for information on how they’re going to keep this data secure, they’ve given us no clear answers,” Aguilar said in the statement. “It’s my duty to follow Nevada law and protect the best interests of Nevadans, which includes protecting their sensitive information and access to the ballot.
“While these requests may seem like normal oversight, the federal government is using its power to try to intimidate states and influence how states administer elections ahead of the 2026 cycle. The Constitution makes it clear: elections are run by the states. Nevada will continue to run safe, secure and accessible elections and I’ll always stand up for the rights of our voters.”
In an interview on Friday, Nevada’s senior U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto questioned the motives of the Justice Department.
KTNV
“You’ve got to question why DOJ is asking for this information and why they’re pushing for this information,” she said. “Is it really to protect voting rights across this country, or is there some other nefarious purpose?”
Added Cortez Masto: “What I have seen is a focus on immigration, right? And their idea of purging all undocumented individuals from this country, including DREAMers, including those that are married to U.S. citizens, including those that are not violent criminals. We have seen that they are continuing down this path, and they are trying to figure out how to gather as much data as they can to use it against individuals in this country.”
President Donald Trump has falsely asserted that he won the 2020 election, nationwide and in Nevada, where Joe Biden defeated Trump by 2.39 percentage points or 33,596 votes statewide.
Six Republican electors were later indicted for sending false Electoral College certificates to Washington, D.C., part of a nationwide plot to keep Trump in office. The case was challenged on a technical issue, but the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the charges, and a trial is expected in the new year.
An email seeking comment from the attorney general’s office — which will defend Nevada in court — was not immediately returned Friday.
Do you have a question about politics in Nevada? Ask Steve Sebelius by emailing Steve.Sebelius@ktnv.com.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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