We are all breathing a sigh of relief that the 83rd Legislature is behind us.
There was plenty of action regarding election integrity (EI) bills.
The session lasted 120 days from February 3rd through Monday June 2nd. Then the Governor had 10 days to review all bills for final signature or veto.
The Process:
There is an Assembly and a Senate Committee for Legislative and Election related bills, with 11 and 5 members respectively, of which 4 and 2 are Republicans.
The Chair for the Assembly was Erica Mosca (D) from AD14 and for the Senate it was James Ohrenschall (D) from SD21. Interestingly, AD14 is part of SD21.
Once the Chair and committee decide to bring a proposed bill forward, the hearing process starts. If the Chair or committee doesn’t bring it forward it never sees daylight and dies.
Several EI groups on both sides of the political aisle tracked the EI related bills from beginning to when they become bills or resolution. So from bill draft requests (BDR) to ABxxx or SBxxx.
There are hearings in both houses for every bill or resolution, so you end up testifying multiple times. Changes are proposed and the bill is amended, and more hearings are scheduled, so you need to track all those changes too. If one house does not pass the bill, it dies – unless the bill is “exempted” – see below on that.
Bills with financial impact also get a hearing in the Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Danielle Monroe-Moreno (D) from AD1. A bill can be killed or curtailed in this committee too.
Final passage of a bill is always during a Floor Session, where all legislators are present.
Once passed, they go to the Governor’s desk for his review and approval. If he vetoes, then the bill will not take effect. It should be noted that joint resolutions do not go to the Governor’s desk for review, only bills do (ABxxx or SBxxx).
Summary of the Election related bill count:
By my count, 41 Election related bill draft requests (BDRs) were assigned a bill number. Note that 3 were resolutions.
The final status breaks down as follows: 13 died, 13 passed and were vetoed, 15 passed and were signed by the Governor. 1 of the 3 resolutions made it through.
Overall observations: the sausage making
When bills are “exempt”
Bills must follow a published schedule to advance and if they don’t make it through, they die.
However, a bill can be exempted (by the majority leadership) from having to adhere to this schedule and then it can linger on until the last days of the legislature, so that hearings are last minute, creating chaos with the schedule. It can also be exempted from having to be voted on in the second House.
Almost every “significant” bill is exempted – usually bills that would make fundamental changes to policy or existing statutes.
The usual result is that an exempted bill’s hearings are impromptu and sometimes delayed so much that it never makes it to the Governor’s desk in time. The politicians use parliamentary procedures to achieve this goal.
This is what happened with the Governor’s crime and healthcare bills on closing day, June 2nd. They never made it through. This created great controversy.
When bills are amended
If one House opposes a bill, it dies.
However, most of the time, changes are proposed and amendments are written, sometimes in the second House. Then the bill goes back to the originating House for another hearing. They may amend the amendments.
During all this, legislators will “horse trade” their bills or amendments with other legislators. They strike deals amongst each other on what portions belong where. Some of it is above board, some not so much. Eventually, if there are fundamental disagreements on the bill, the bill will die.
However, there may be portions that the bill sponsor wants to keep “alive”, so s/he negotiates to get it inserted during the amendment process into another EI bill. This is not publicized, so we only find out by keeping track of these “traveling amendments” amongst the entire body of election bills.
This happened to the proposal for instituting drop boxes during the weekend before Election Day. It was originally in AB306 – the first bill that the Governor vetoed! However, about a month later the drop box “amendment” appeared in AB499.
The same happened with the proposed Voter Access Grant Program for the Secretary of State, or as we called it the “SoS’ personal slush fund”. It started in AB420, then appeared in AB287, and re-appeared in AB534.
Single subject bills
Bills have to adhere to one major subject. So election bills are only about election related issues. However, under the rubric of elections, topics like mail ballot processing and campaign finance are so different, they warrant to be separated under the single subject bill rule.
Of course, a few bills broke the spirit of this rule with 50+ different sections. These are called omnibus bills. Prime examples were AB534 (64 pages) and SB74 (56 pages).
Since you only get two minutes to testify for every bill, it is impossible to provide comments on all sections. So you need to prioritize and/or have several people cover each of the sections – each 2 minutes at a time.
Last minute bills or amendments
You will not be surprised to hear that very controversial bills or amendments are sometimes published at the last minute and rushed through the legislative process. Legislators have little time to read the bill. Everyone scrambles to put testimonies together and has to adjust their schedule to be available for the impromptu hearing(s).
Here are some examples. Keep in mind that the legislative session ended on Monday June 2nd.
AB597 was written on Memorial Day – May 26. It proposed Open Primaries. Non-Partisans would be allowed to vote in either the Democrat or the Republican primary election. The first and second hearings were on Thursday May 29. Then it passed in the joint floor session on Saturday May 31. All Republicans voted against it. Governor Lombardo vetoed this bill.
As we said earlier, controversial amendments can be introduced into a bill last minute. Like the Voter Access Grant Program that was introduced on Saturday May 31 to the Assembly committee for AB534. It then went to the Senate Committee on Sunday June 1 and later that day, it passed the joint floor session. All Republicans voted against it. Governor Lombardo vetoed this bill.
Lastly, AB499 had a last-minute amendment – introduced on Saturday May 31 with the final floor session passing the measure on Monday June 2nd.
There were two major changes included. One to re-introduce the drop boxes during the weekend before Election Day. Yes, the same proposal that Governor Lombardo had already vetoed in AB306!
The second was a complete surprise and would implement Voter ID guidelines – in anticipation of Ballot Question 7 coming back in 2026 and expected to pass again. Except there were lots of issues with the implementation details and lacked thoroughness. Governor Lombardo vetoed this bill.
Furthermore, there was AJR14 that was passed by every Democrat in the legislature. All 23 Republicans voted against it. It condemns President Trump for pardoning the January 6th defendants. Again, this resolution does not go to the Governor for review. Since it was passed, the joint State House sends this resolution to the President.
Wins: EI bills that were vetoed by Governor Lombardo:
AB79: Candidate reporting the use of unspent contributions. SoS can investigate and subpoena anyone – new powers. SoS has final decision for judicial review. Veto message
AB105: Prohibiting the possession of a firearm in or within a 100 feet distance of the entrance to an election site Veto message
AB237: County Board of Commissioners in rural counties can create Registrar of Voter office, essentially eliminating the County Clerk position, who is elected by the people Veto message
AB306: Mail ballot drop boxes during weekend before Election Day Veto message
AB490: SoS is currently restricted to file complaints regarding petitions in first judicial district courts; this bill would allow SoS to file in “qualified” district court Veto message
AB496: Onerous reporting requirements on County Clerks; Phone # on return envelopes to speed up curing; citizens cannot ask about details on provisional voting decisions – only the voter who cast the ballot can Veto message
AB499: County clerks establish portal to SoS specifications; DMV data transfer specifics to clerks; voter to write DL#4 or SSN#4 on return envelope and QR/machine readable code – if correct there is no need to verify signature anymore; DMV data is confidential; curing procedures and response times; last minute amendment #1) brings back drop boxes to weekend before Election Day AND #2) implements (weak) Voter ID guidelines – in anticipation of Ballot Question 7 coming back in 2026 Veto message
AB534: defines “personal knowledge” so strict that all citizen challenges can be thrown out; restricts the reporting of deceased voters to family and needs notary; eliminates hand counting of ballots; renames Risk Limiting Audit to Accuracy Audit. Added SoS Voter Access Grant program on 5/30 via amendment #928; lots of onerous mail ballot processing regulations… clerks not happy Operational costs are not estimated, but would be high Veto message
AB597: Open Primaries: NP and NPP registered voters can vote for R or D major party ballot. It disenfranchises the R & D parties & goes against 2024 RCV ballot defeat. Veto message
SB100: Centralizes election authority under SoS and s/he can compel county clerk to respond via writ of mandamus to Attorney General Veto message
SB102: Defines additional punishment for “false” slate of electors. This undermines the Electoral College Veto message
SB422: Electors from other states (i.e. anywhere in the USA) with DL and tribal ID can vote in NV elections, no provisional votes required Veto message
SB428: Candidate’s oath for office includes residence within district; privacy of candidate information is a concern Veto message
Bills signed into law by the Governor:
AB73: Establishes criteria for campaigns and candidates who use Artificial Intelligence technologies to create video or audio deliverables to the public. They have to let the public know while playing the video or audio
AB92: Requiring that rooms or spaces in certain public buildings be provided to certain political parties without charge
AB123: Duplicates NRS 200.571 on Harassment and Stalking for political candidates and adds SoS in the process to investigate as opposed to the AG
AB148: Sample ballot booklets need to arrive before mail ballots do (no kidding!)
AB262: Poll workers and trainees can be volunteers; they elect not to be paid by county
AB367: Seven foreign language translation for election materials, website & at polling locations. Initial implementation is estimated to cost $~4.5 million with ongoing costs per biennial of $~2.3 million.
AB420: Originally this bill contained the SoS Voter Access Grant Program, but that was removed and eventually became part of AB534. The remainder had to do with education, which is the part the governor signed. (yes, initially there was a problem with single subject bill rule)
AB477: Allows prisoners to be counted for purposes of the census
AB491: County clerks must respond to SoS requests for info in two working days; candidates must be registered and be residents in the district that they represent
AB497: Establishes guidelines on campaign contribution uses and disposal of unspent contributions
AB562 and SB488: Appropriates approximately $40 million to the Secretary of State’s office. About $27 million is federal funds from Help America Vote Act for systems and software. The remainder is for implementing the “top-down” elections system and for Automatic Voter Registration Agencies
SB225: Regarding Presidential Preference Primary. Presidential candidates pay $1000 for filing fee
SB421: Tribal leaders can refuse help from SoS to run or train for elections
Losses (mostly): bills or amendments that died
The bills that never made it included proposals for Voter ID; reduce curing mail ballot timeline from 6 to 3 days; eliminating universal mail ballots; onerous signature update processes; automatic recount when candidates have a .25% difference in votes; cannot count mail ballots after Election Day; latest acceptable postmark on MBs = last Friday before Election Day; more rigorous voter roll maintenance by County Clerk’s office; ballot harvesting restriction; proposal for prisoners to be able to vote online over email.
There is one highlight to mention that was a “win” for conservatives: SB74 had a (sneaky) proposal for any Nevadan to be able to provide an excuse so they can vote their ballot online over email on the public internet – using the military voting guidelines. SB74 ended up dying, but this section showed up in the original version of AB534 later on, only to be permanently deleted via another amendment. Conservatives testified in large numbers against this abomination.
Conclusion:
When looking at the entire body of EI bills, it becomes clear that the Democrats’ overarching Election policy recommendations fall under two major themes:
- According to the Democrats there is never enough voter “accessibility”: anyone can vote from anywhere at any time and with any method on centralized machines.
- The Secretary of State tried to centralize his power in Carson City away from the elected County Clerks and Nevada citizens.
This is in great contrast with the Republicans strategy: Accessibility must be balanced with security and trustworthiness in our elections.
We should be thankful that Governor Lombardo stood in the breach and was steadfast in defending secure and honest elections.
And kudos to the many citizens who waited their turn for hours to testify. It paid off.
So what’s next:
The EI bills that were approved now start the process of being written into the existing election laws by the Secretary of State’s office. Chapter 293 – Elections
This happens by creating Nevada Administrative Codes (NACs), then followed by updates to written procedures for election personnel and the publicly available Elections Procedures Manual. These define operational steps that elections workers must follow.
There are hearings for NAC proposals, similar to the legislative sessions, where citizens can testify. Again, we need to be diligent and make sure the legislation is interpreted accurately and fairly.
Finally, it is very clear that we will improve the security of Nevada elections only if Republicans get the majority in the State Assembly and Senate.
2026 will be pivotal in that regard.
We must re-elect Joe Lombardo and field smart, hard-working and dedicated conservative candidates for the Nevada State Houses!
