OPINION: NV SOS Playing Partisan Politics With GOTV Texting Alerts

After a discussion with Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, I have learned that he is spending taxpayer money to send Get Out the Vote (GOTV) text messages to registered voters aged 18 to 24 with no history of voting, and put their cell phone number on their voter registration form.

Nevadans are getting inundated with election messaging everywhere they go, and it’s critical that all voters understand that they have access to factual, trusted sources of information. These text messages will allow us to communicate important information directly to voters. https://t.co/zPVtXiaxoH

— Cisco Aguilar (@CiscoAguilar) October 15, 2024

A copy of the announcement can be found here.

A national poll conducted by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School from in early to mid September found Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump 64 percent to 32 percent among Generation Z likely voters. 

Clearly, these targeted young voters give a commanding advantage to Vice President Harris and every Democratic Party candidate all the way down the ticket.

So, why is the Secretary of State using taxpayer money to solely turnout this demographic that gives clear partisan strategic advantage to one party, cloaked as “civic participation,” and how many of them are there? After reviewing the voter file, there are 47,070 records that match this criterion.

In 2022, Governor Joe Lombardo beat former Governor Steve Sisolak by 15,386 votes and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto bested former Attorney General Adam Laxalt by 7,928 votes. In the perennial battleground of Nevada, every vote matters. 

It is my opinion that Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar is taking a partisan position. Is it really the role of the Secretary of State’s office to use taxpayer money to turnout their party’s most advantageous generational demographic? The answer is an unequivocal no.

Nevada’s taxpayers’ dollars should be utilized for safe and transparent elections in the Silver State, not campaigning.