Nevada’s elections don’t get cleaner by accident. Someone has to do the work.
And in Washoe County, Registrar of Voters Andrew McDonald says his office is finally making big progress.
McDonald joined Nevada Newsmakers host Randi Thompson this week to talk about the growing push for voter roll cleanup, including recent challenges filed by conservative activist Chuck Muth through his Pigpen Project.
Even critics of the effort have noted Muth is simply using a tool any citizen is allowed to use under Nevada law.
How Regular Nevadans Can Flag Bad Addresses
Thompson opened the conversation by pointing out something rare in Nevada politics: Muth, a conservative watchdog, actually praised a local election office for working with him.
Under NRS 293.535, any Nevadan with “personal knowledge” of facts that a voter no longer lives at a listed address can file a written challenge.
McDonald confirmed that’s exactly what happened.
“Mr. Muth reached out to our county manager. We had a phone call. That call went well,” McDonald said. “He submitted the challenges and we’re reviewing them.”
McDonald said the law requires anyone filing a challenge to attest to it under penalty of perjury. The county can’t just take someone off the rolls because a name shows up on a list.
“There’s a whole process,” he said.
That verification process involves a letter and address confirmation card. The voter must respond for their registration to stay active.
McDonald stressed one important point. Muth wasn’t targeting one political party.
“We reviewed them. It’s a mix of folks,” he said.
A Much Bigger Cleanup Is Underway
While the Pigpen Project drew attention, the registrar said additional action is coming from his own office.
Since McDonald was appointed, his team has canceled or inactivated more than 70,000 registrations in Washoe County. He says the biggest drop came recently.
“As of a few weeks ago, the voter rolls went down 31,333,” he said. “That’s 10 percent. That’s huge.”
These voters didn’t respond to notices and didn’t vote in the presidential preference primary, the primary election, or the general election.
State law requires counties to keep inactive voters on the list for a period of time, but they no longer count as active voters – which means they aren’t automatically sent a mail-in ballot.
McDonald says list maintenance is nonstop.
“We have about three to five hundred different changes daily,” he said. “Move-ins, move-outs, people switching parties. It’s constant and it’s 365 days a year.”
He also pointed out something most voters never think about.
When they move but don’t update their registration or file a postal change of address, the county has no way of knowing. That creates clutter that only time and non-response can eventually clear out.
Secretary of State’s Role
Thompson asked whether the Secretary of State has to approve the challenges Muth submitted.
McDonald clarified that the state’s involvement is more about consistency than control.
“We’re looking for guidance,” he said. “It would be my decision. But if I’m the first to make it, it could have effects across the state.”
He says right now Muth’s filings look like they “checked all the boxes,” and the county is leaning toward processing them.
Washoe’s Election Office Finally Fully Staffed
McDonald also shared a rare bit of good news.
For the first time in years, Washoe’s elections office is fully staffed.
“What is the saying? Hire slow, fire fast,” he said. “We’ve built a very good team.”
He says he plans to stay on for four or five more years to stabilize the office and build public confidence.
Thompson ended the interview by thanking McDonald for his transparency and his willingness to answer questions directly.
And she hinted at a future show.
“I’d love to have you and Chuck on in January,” she said. “I think anybody can get engaged in helping clean up our voter rolls.”
McDonald agreed.
If Nevada wants honest elections, then someone has to roll up their sleeves and fix the basics. Washoe County is now doing that.
It’s slow, it’s messy and it’s not always fun. But it’s real progress. And it shows what can happen when citizens push and local officials answer.
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