LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The top Nevada elections official defended Nevada's voting systems on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump declared he'd seek to end mail-in voting because of alleged fraud.
Trump on his Truth Social platform wrote that he would lead a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines, claiming they allow "massive voter fraud" and accusing Democrats of cheating at elections.
WATCH | Nevada defends mail voting as Trump pledges to eliminate the practice
Trump has claimed — without proof — that he actually won the 2020 election, but every lawsuit filed by Republicans has been turned away by courts at all levels.
And, according to the New York Times, Trump claimed that Putin told him during their summit last week in Anchorage, Alaska that Putin believed the 2020 election was rigged.
Under Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, states write election laws, but Congress may override those rules with laws of its own.
Trump presumably could prevail on Congress to pass a law to outlaw mail voting and require a return to voting only on paper ballots, but would have to overcome opposition in both parties to do so. And a Senate filibuster would surely block any such legislation in the upper house, unless majority Republicans decided to do away with the filibuster for legislation entirely.
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said in an interview on Tuesday that mail voting is popular all over Nevada, including rural areas that are home to many Trump voters.
"We know that in Nevada, mail ballots are the preferred way to vote," Aguilar said. "We know that some of our most rural communities, you look at Nye County, Douglas County, they are the highest adopters of mail ballots. When we talk about elections in Nevada, we know they're safe, they're secure and they're accessible, accessibility being a priority."
Mail voting has gone on for years in Nevada, mostly for service members stationed overseas or residents who were living out of the country when the election was held. It typically comprised a very small portion of the vote, however.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the state Legislature in special session passed a temporary mail-in voting law to apply in emergency situations. That November, nearly 48% of voters cast ballots by mail, the largest segment of the electorate.
Then in 2021, lawmakers made the mail-in voting regulations permanent, without the need for an emergency declaration. The following year, 51% of voters used mail to cast their ballot in the general election.
Although Trump had railed against mail-in and early voting, especially after his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, Republicans changed their tune in 2024.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley in July 2024 visited the Clark County Republican headquarters in Henderson to tell members that the party would be using every available method — including mail-in and early voting — in order to win.
Even Trump at rallies encouraged his supporters to make a plan to vote, no matter how they intended to cast a ballot.
In November, the change in rhetoric bore fruit: 37% turned out during early voting, including a larger percentage of Republicans than in the past. Another 45% cast ballots by mail. And for the first time ever, Trump won Nevada, 51% to 48%, or a margin of 46,000 votes statewide.
In Carson City, Douglas County, Esmeralda County, Lyon County, Nye County and Pershing County, turnout approached or exceeded 50% of the vote. Trump won every one of those counties.
But, according to the new book "2024," by former Washington Post reporters Josh Dawsey and Tyler Pager and current Post White House reporter Isaac Arnsdorft, Trump never changed his mind about mail-in voting. He just kept quiet about it.
Once early voting in the general election was over, according to the book, Trump told associates that he believed we should return to using only paper ballots, and voting in-person on Election Day.
Aguilar said getting rid of voting by mail would disenfranchise voters who can't travel to the polls, or force voters to face long drives to the polls in sparsely populated rural areas.
Some Republicans — including Gov. Joe Lombardo — have said that mail-ballot deadlines should be moved back, so that ballots are due before Election Day and counted by election night. But that reform, and some others backed by Republicans, were turned away by the 2025 Legislature.
WATCH | Governor Lombardo: Delayed election results are a 'national embarrassment'
One reform that appears inevitable, however, is the requirement to show a state-issued ID card when voting in person, or writing an ID number on your ballot envelope when voting by mail.
That measure — the result of a citizen initiative and not legislative action — passed with 73% of the vote in November. If it passes again in November 2026, it will become part of the state constitution.
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