Poll: 74 percent of Nevadans Support Voter ID

A poll conducted by OH Insights for the Nevada Independent reflects that 74 percent of polled Nevadans support Governor Lombardo’s call to require identification to cast a ballot. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Nevada is one of fifteen states that requires no documentation to cast a ballot.

As reported by The NV Indy:

That support was almost universal among Republicans (93 percent in favor; 2 percent opposed). But it also remained high among Democrats (62 percent in favor) and independents (68 percent in favor).

But respondents also largely rebuffed Lombardo’s call to return to the pre-COVID system of opt-in absentee ballots rather than the current opt-out universal mail system.

Asked to choose between different potential mail systems, 24 percent supported sending all registered voters a mail ballot, and another 24 percent supported sending all registered voters ballots but allowing anyone to opt out and vote in person.

Just 35 percent of respondents backed Lombardo’s opt-in mail proposal under which voters would have to request a mail ballot to receive one and 9 percent supported eliminating mail ballots altogether and requiring people to vote in person.

“We’ve tested these issues a lot, and basically voters are in favor of security, like what you saw with the whole voter ID [proposal],” Noble said. “Voters want a secure election. But also what they want is convenience.”

The poll also asked voters if they supported a change to the current law which allows for extended ballot tabulation allowing ballots postmarked/received on election day to be counted up to four days after the election. This delay in the 2022 election caused national and local concern, with former President Trump publicly accusing Clark County of corruption.

According to the poll: “A majority of respondents (53 percent) also backed changing the deadline to return mail-in ballots to Election Day, with 24 percent opposed. That includes a near-majority of Democrats (49 percent) in support, as well as a supermajority of Republicans (68 percent). Though independent voters also broadly backed the proposed change (43 percent), nearly a quarter of independents, 23 percent, neither supported nor opposed it.”

During his State of the State address, Governor Lombardo vowed to implement Voter ID either through legislation or “at the ballot box.”

Nevadans deserve to have confidence that our elections are free and fair. It's time we institute common-sense election reforms:
✅Voter ID
✅Mail-In Ballots Are Received When Polls Close
❌End Universal Mail-In Ballots
❌End Unregulated Ballot Harvestinghttps://t.co/fZ8JkFP7iR

— Governor Joe Lombardo (@JosephMLombardo) January 31, 2023

Republicans of the Nevada Assembly have submitted legislation to meet the Governor’s goal of streamlined, modern, and secure elections. This session, Assemblyman Gregory Hafen will present a bill that makes photo ID a requirement to vote in Nevada. Assemblyman Ken Gray has prepared a bill that requires that ballots to be counted be received no later than 5 p.m. on Election Day. Assemblyman Toby Yurek’s bill calls for an election investigation unit to search for and expose any fraud. Assemblywomen Jill Dickman, Heidi Kasama and Alexis Hansen also will present bills to increase election integrity in Nevada.

Yet, during the Democratic response to Governor Lombardo’s State of the State, Speaker of the Assembly Steve Yeager proclaimed that any legislation related to voter integrity would be “dead on arrival.”

An attempt to get voter ID on the 2022 ballot was led by David Gibbs, President of Repair The Vote, but lawsuits led by Mark Elias’ law firm delayed his attempts.

As reported by The Globe:

“The lawsuits on behalf of Democrat activists Persaud-Zamora and Jeng were filed by lawyers from the D.C. law firm of Marc Elias.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuits claim:

“In reality, the negative effects of strict voter identification laws like those the Petition proposes are well documented, and the need for such measures to safeguard “voter integrity” and prevent voter fraud has been widely debunked and discredited. One widely-cited study found that as many as 11% of U.S. citizens-or more than 21 million Americans-do not have government-issued photo identification. The shortfall does not fall evenly across all demographics: Black, Hispanic, young, and low-income voters are many times more likely to lack these forms of identification than their respective white, non-Hispanic, older, and higher-income counterparts. And the combined cost of document fees, travel expenses, and waiting time needed to obtain even ostensibly “free” identification cards is has been estimated to range from $75 to $175, making it cost prohibitive for many eligible voters to rectify their lack of identification.”

Democratic legislators and Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar have also circulated the debunked talking point that Voter ID suppresses the vote of minority and indigent communities.

In response to this poll, David Gibbs told The Globe: “We tried this effort in 2022 and had a problem in court, but we have resolved that issue to the satisfaction of the judge. We are planning to do a Voter ID ballot initiative for the 2024 election. We will need 40,000 fewer signatures to qualify this time around and we are going to get started earlier. We are now getting organized and we will start gathering signatures in October. We anticipate being successful this time around. We also anticipate getting sued again, but we don’t anticipate any challenge will be successful this time. We now have the governor’s support and Assm. Hafen has submitted Voter ID legislation. It is unlikely to get a hearing because Democrats are listening to their special interests and not their voters. Democrats have a choice, are they going to listen to their voters or their donors?”