If someone moves out of Nevada, they shouldn’t be voting here anymore. Seems like common sense, right?
But our voter rolls are still packed with names of people who no longer live in the state. And the frustrating part is: there’s already a simple way to fix it.
Every state, including Nevada, is part of a national group called the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).
One of the things AAMVA does is help track when people change their residency by getting a driver’s license in a new state.
Say a person moves from Las Vegas to Phoenix. In order to drive in Arizona, they need to get an Arizona license.
When they do, Arizona lets Nevada know that the person has officially claimed residency in their new state. That means they’ve legally given up their Nevada residency.
Here’s where it matters: Nevada law requires you to be a resident to vote here. If you no longer live here, your name should be removed from the voter rolls.
This isn’t a new idea.
Back in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in Dunn v. Blumstein that states can and should cross-check voter data like driver’s licenses to figure out where someone really lives.
In fact, the Court said this kind of info is “easy to double-check,” especially with modern communications.
So what’s stopping Nevada from doing exactly that?
According to Nevada law – and the federal Help America Vote Act – the Secretary of State can coordinate with the DMV to share information.
And it appears they already do… but only when it comes to registering new voters. Not removing people who’ve left.
That responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar.
If Aguilar wanted to, he could request a list from the DMV of everyone who’s surrendered their Nevada license after moving to another state.
Whether it’s a list from the past year or the past five years, it would likely include thousands of names of people who no longer qualify to vote here.
In most of these cases, a person has already signed paperwork in another state confirming they’re a resident there.
In other words, there’s no need to guess – they’ve told the government directly, in writing, that they’ve moved.
Yet those same names may still be sitting on Nevada’s voter rolls. Why?
Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal expert at The Heritage Foundation, has long argued that election officials should be using this kind of data to keep voter lists clean.
“States simply need to compare new registrations with the jurisdictions they came from,” he says. “It’s not hard.”
Even the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.
Still, Secretary Aguilar hasn’t taken steps to use the AAMVA data that’s already available. And that’s a problem.
We’ve all heard about people who get two ballots – one in Nevada and one in another state. Or people who’ve been gone for years but are still listed as active voters.
That shouldn’t be happening.
This isn’t about politics. It’s about protecting the vote of every legal Nevada resident.
If someone is voting in two places – or voting here when they shouldn’t – it cancels out someone else’s voice.
Elections are too important to let sloppiness slide. Nevadans deserve better than outdated records and excuses.
Secretary Aguilar has the authority. He has access to the data. What he doesn’t seem to have is the will.
It’s time he starts doing his job – and cleaning up the mess.
This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
