LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The switch to a new voter registration database won't happen until after Nevada's June 11 primary, leaving 17 county-run systems in place until then.
Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar says he delayed the implementation of the new system after a mock election revealed problems and local clerks requested more time to implement the changes. He announced the delay this week.
"They [clerks] have a big job to do. Their time is limited. And so, when they collectively got together, I respect them. I value their opinion. I wanted to make sure we were accommodating them as much as possible," Aguilar said. "I don't execute elections. The county clerks execute elections on the ground floor."
Aguilar added that timing was tight between now and the June primary, with clerks responsible for apportioning Republican and Democratic candidates on ballots for various districts around the state and the added pressure of getting the new system up and running was challenging.
Under the current system, each county uses its own system, each with its own idiosyncrasies. A failure to properly adjust voter registration data before uploading it to the state led to numerous errors being reported after the state's February presidential preference primary. Some voters were told they were ineligible to vote and had no voting history, while others were inaccurately told they had voted by mail in the primary when they hadn't.
One of those voters was Jason Guinasso, a Reno attorney with the statewide firm Hutchison & Steffen. Guinasso said he assumed it was an error, even as many others alleged there was election fraud.
"I assumed there had to be some sort of mistake. I just didn't know what the mistake was," Guinasso said. "I never assumed there was votes cast that were never cast or that there was some sort of corruption in the system. The one thing I do know is that behind all these problems are human beings trying to do their best to make the system work, so I don't want to be overly critical of people that are working in good faith."
Guinasso said, however, that the Secretary of State's office needed to work to avoid similar mistakes in the future, especially since the new system won't go into effect before the November general election.
"And so, I think the pressure is going to be on them even more intensely as they implement this new system," he said. "I think there will be a lot more opportunities to attack the Secretary of State's office, given the new system being put in place. And so, hopefully, it runs flawlessly during the general because if it doesn't, I don't know that they'll be as generous in forgiving people as I am in the Republican Party."
In the wake of the errors, the state Republican Party said it would investigate and the head of the House Administration Committee, Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., wrote to Aguilar demanding answers. Aguilar responded with a letter on Friday, referring to a statement his office issued back in February.
Rep. Steil Letter 3.22 by Steve.Sebelius
Aguilar said he is confident the errors that cropped up after the February primary won't be repeated, even using the older systems.
"When we determined what the issues were, we were able to fix them," he said. "We are well-aware, both from our elections team to the IT team and I think some of the new clerks too, that are in their new positions for the first time, understand the limitations of their legacy systems so they know what they need to do for these upcoming elections."
Aguilar said Nevada has devoted extra resources toward the new system, in which the state will maintain voter records rather than each individual county. But county governments will work off that state database and changes made either at the state or local level will update in real time, he said.
"These are opportunities for us to educate Nevada voters about the process and any time we can educate voters more about what we're doing and why we're doing it, I think it's a positive thing," he said.
Guinasso encouraged that kind of transparency, which he said is key for average citizens to understand how the system works and increase voter confidence. The public losing faith in elections is a serious problem, he said.
"It's dangerous to how our system of government works and the confidence we place in the system," he said. "The ultimate accountability for government is the ballot box and if the confidence in the ballot box is eroded, we don't really have rule of law. We don't have the kind of accountability that is promised and that causes a lot of turmoil and upheaval and we've seen what that looks like in full display over the last couple of years as people have stoked those fires."
Aguilar encourages all voters to make sure their voter registration is up to date with a current address. People can register to vote or change their registration at vote.nv.gov.
