Photo ID Required To Access Mail Ballot at Cares Campus in Reno

An article from the Reno Gazette Journal reveals that a photo ID is required to access a mail ballot at the Cares Campus in Reno:

Question: What happens to ballots that are delivered to the Cares Campus?

Short answer: All ballots delivered to the Cares Campus are secured behind a locked mailroom door in the Resource Center, sorted alphabetically into designated mailboxes and require photo ID cards to gain access. According to the county, no mail is unsupervised.

To note, during his State of the State address, Governor Joe Lombardo vowed to implement voter ID either through legislation or “at the ballot box.” During the Democratic response to Governor Lombardo’s address, Speaker of the Assembly Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) proclaimed that any legislation related to election integrity would be “dead on arrival.”

When The Globe asked Democratic leadership about Lombardo’s Voter ID proposal, Attorney General Aaron Ford claimed that voter ID was “unconstitutional. Subsequently, the Democratic majority in the legislature refused to hear a bill brought by Governor Lombardo in 2023 that would have required ID to vote despite the fact that 36 other states have Voter ID laws.

The article also reveals that the Cares Campus can be used to register to vote if the person is unhoused or does not have a permanent address; or, the unhoused person can use a street corner or general location as their address. (emphasis added).

Not only is it unclear how a mail ballot is delivered to a street corner or a general location, but under Nevada law, individuals are required to register to vote where they live. As outdoor camping within city limits is now prohibited by city and county ordinance, the statement by Drydale raises additional concerns as to listing a street corner or general location for voter registration and mail-ballot delivery.

Washoe County spokesperson Bethany Drysdale told the RGJ:

Anybody in Washoe County who doesn’t have a permanent mailing address can use the Cares Campus.

Residents can use the Cares Campus as their residential address for voter registration. Those without a fixed address can also use a general location description as their residence address — such as a street corner — for their voter registration. Just because a person does not have a fixed address doesn’t mean they are not eligible to vote.”

When someone comes to pick up their mail, they have to show their ID card, which is the clarity card. That’s the card the homeless use to get services. The clarity card is scanned, and it has a photo ID, so then staff can make sure that the person picking up the mail is the right person

Ballots cannot be sent from the Cares Campus. Individuals registered at the Cares Campus are required to drop off their ballots at the vote center, the mailbox or the post office.

Since before the 2020 election, PILF has been notifying Nevada election officials about commercial addresses and vacant lots on the voter rolls.  During their investigation they found voters registered at casinos, vacant lots, gas stations, strip clubs, and fast food restaurants. Last June, the Public Interest Legal Foundation sued both Washoe County and Clark County to remove commercial addresses and vacant lots from their voter rolls. Clark County complied, but due to the turnover in the Washoe County Registrars office, no known action has been taken and the Elias Law Group has now intervened.

The law group, led by Marc Elias, contends “that their members and constituents would be forced to “expend substantial resources to educate voters and protect them from baseless attacks on their eligibility.”

“If the Court grants such relief, Respondent Burgess — and other clerks and registrars across the state — will be flooded with third-party demands to investigate all manner of alleged peculiarities in the voter rolls, based on unsourced, unverified, and unsworn information.”

Editors note: Former interim Washoe County registrar Cari-Ann Burgess was removed from her position due to “work related stress.” The Globe has reached out to Bethany Drysdale for clarification on the county’s interpretation of Nevada election law. We will provide an update to this article with Drysdale’s response. The Globe has also reached out to PILF for an update on the lawsuit against Washoe County.