The 2020 election denial claims led to widespread questions about election security. Since then, states such as Nevada are taking steps to make sure voters know what is being done to protect the balloting.
The most important effort is educating voters about voting procedures and safety measures in place to protect the integrity of the voting process, according to Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar.
At an August bipartisan town hall in Las Vegas, Aguilar said the state will implement a new system this month, aimed at streamlining the process by combining every county's information into one statewide system.
“So it's unifying the process,” Aguilar said. “It's creating one database with good data so that we can maintain those voter rolls at a very accurate level.”
Nevada's new process is called the Voter Registration Election Management System, which will combine the information from all 17 of the state’s counties into one system. Aguilar said that a unified system ultimately instills trust.
“Elections are about the people. It's about the voters. It's about the candidates. And it's about the election workers and poll workers. We need to ensure that the experience across the board is above board, and we're doing the best we can to make sure everybody has the best experience,” said Aguilar
The new system will take effect August 17.
Many states also use the Electronic Registration Information Center to keep voting records updated. In the Mountain West, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah participate in this system.
But there’s still plenty of skepticism. At the event to announce Nevada’s new system, there were elected officials from rural Nevada counties who raised commonly held doubts about voting security such as ID requirements and ensuring only qualified citizens can vote.
According to Ballotpedia, there’s a mix of what type of identification Western states require. In Nevada, an ID is not required when voting in person because an ID is required to register to vote. That’s similar in New Mexico. Idaho requires a photo ID when voting in person. Wyoming, Utah and Colorado require ID but it does not have to be a photo ID.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
