“There's No Evidence” – Except the 15,903 Names Sitting on Aguilar's Desk.
Columnist David Colborne wants you scared. REALLY scared.
In his July 28 column for the Nevada Independent, he says the SAVE America Act would “destroy Nevada's elections.”
He goes on to claim it would “strip Nevadans and Americans of their constitutional right to vote.”
Oh, my! Big words. Scary words.
But here's the big question: Is any of it true?
Let's find out.
What the Bill Actually Does
Strip away the panic and the SAVE America Act does one simple thing: It requires proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
Not every time you vote. Not every time you move. Just once, when you register.
That's it. That's the whole “assault on democracy.”
Non-citizens voting in federal elections is already illegal. The SAVE America Act just makes sure we catch the problem before it happens instead of after.
Sounds reasonable. So why the five-alarm fire?
“Could” Isn't “Will”
Mr. Colborne's column leans hard on Nevada driver's licenses not showing citizenship status.
From there he builds a chain of “coulds” that somehow ends in “will.”
Millions disenfranchised. Elections destroyed. Democracy in ashes. Dogs and cats living together!
But the law allows multiple forms of documentary proof.
States adjust their procedures after federal election law changes all the time. That's not a constitutional crisis. That's Tuesday in government.
Could there be bumps?
Sure. Every new law has them.
But “could require some paperwork adjustments” and “will strip Americans of their right to vote” are not the same thing.
One is a fact. The other is a scare tactic dressed up as journalism.
We've Watched This Movie Before
Doomsday predictions have a bad track record. A really bad one. For example…
Back in 2018, a viral post claimed a “top climate scientist” warned that humanity would be wiped out unless the world stopped using fossil fuels within five years.
Insufferable climate activist Greta Thunberg shared it with her followers, and it spread like wildfire.
Five years came and went. Humanity's still here!
But here's the kicker:
The scientist whose words got quoted in that article later said his comments were twisted beyond recognition. He never said what the viral post claimed he said.
So what actually happened?
An alarming claim went viral. Nobody checked it first. It got treated as gospel. Then it quietly got deleted when reality didn't cooperate.
Sound familiar?
That's the pattern. Make the scariest possible prediction, present it as settled fact, and move on before anyone checks your work.
Now Here's What Colborne Didn't Tell You
While he was busy predicting the apocalypse, he skipped right past the evidence sitting in his own state's inbox.
On July 17, the Department of Homeland Security sent Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar a letter.
It flagged as many as 15,903 noncitizens who may be registered to vote in Nevada.
Of those, DHS said 8,576 Nevada registrants had a name, date of birth, address and Social Security number that matched a noncitizen in federal immigration files.
Nevada wasn't alone.
The same review flagged over 256,000 potential noncitizens registered to vote across California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
And this isn't just paperwork mismatches sitting on a shelf. Look at New Jersey.
Governor Sherrill's own office admitted a state system glitch let roughly 6,600 (and counting) ineligible noncitizens get registered to vote and confirmed about 400 of them actually cast ballots!
Actually voted. Not “might.” Did.
Zoom out further and the pattern holds.
Federal investigators have flagged three problems piling up ahead of the 2026 election:
Hundreds of thousands of dead people still on the rolls, tens of thousands of noncitizens registered, and a growing number of foreigners who went past registering and actually cast a ballot in a federal election.
Around the country, the Justice Department has logged roughly two dozen arrests, prosecutions or convictions tied to illegal noncitizen voting since early 2026, with about 90 more investigations still open.
That's not a theory. That's a case file.
Now, to be fair, nobody's claiming millions of illegal votes swung a national election.
Some of these numbers are preliminary and get revised down after states check them by hand.
Nevada's own Secretary of State called DHS's number “wildly speculative” and pushed back hard.
Fine. Have that fight.
But even the skeptics aren't saying the number is zero.
They're arguing about how big the leak is, not whether the boat is leaking.
So Which Story Do You Believe?
Colborne wants you to believe the real threat to Nevada elections is a bill asking people to prove they're citizens before they register.
Meanwhile, the actual paper trail shows real cases, real names, real ballots cast by people who had no legal right to cast them.
Which one sounds more like an “assault on democracy” to you?
The Missing Half of the Story
Notice something else missing from Mr. Colborne's column: There's almost no mention of how many voters actually want this.
Nevadans already answered that question.
They passed Question 7 back in 2024, requiring voter ID, and by a wide margin.
It's back on the ballot this November and it's headed for another win.
That's not a fringe position. That's the will of the people Mr. Colborne claims to be protecting.
The Bottom Line
Reasonable people can debate the details of implementation.
Fine. Have that conversation.
But you can't have an honest debate while pretending the evidence doesn't exist.
Nevada isn't hypothetical. It's on the DHS list.
New Jersey isn't hypothetical. Four hundred noncitizen ballots got counted there – cancelling out the votes of actual U.S. citizens.
Those aren't scary predictions. Those are facts. On the record. Right now.
Mr. Colborne built his whole column on “could.” The voter rolls are showing us “did.”
Next time someone tells you election security is a manufactured panic, ask them one question:
Have you looked at the rolls?
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
