The right to vote is fundamental to American society. it is also a major focus for Nevada's 82nd Legislative Session that began this week.

A big push for Governor Joe Lombardo and republicans is election reform.

They say all Nevadans should have access to mail-in ballots, but there needs to be limits. In his State of the State Address, Governor Lombardo proposed that all mail-in ballots need to be in before poll close on election day.

“7 p.m. on election day and no more ballots could come in after that. So, if you're doing a mail in ballot, you mail it such that it comes in by election day, rather than waiting four or five days,” said Republican District 26 Assemblyman Rich DeLong.

DeLong, the assembly minority whip, is working alongside Governor Lombardo on legislation that they say will put Nevada back in line with national norms by ensuring Nevada's election reporting does not drag on for days, like it did during the midterms.

DeLong says universal mail-in ballots were established during the height of the pandemic and that it is now an unnecessary and expensive process.

Another important step for republicans: verifying the identity of voters.

“A key one is on voter ID which we think we have the opportunity to have that be a bipartisan vote. If you look at polling data, whether republican or democrat, everyone is strongly in favor of showing an id to vote, just like you have to show an id to live in society,” said Republican District 26 Assemblyman Rich DeLong. 

But, Democrats are moving in a different direction. They want to make voting even more accessible.

“My real philosophy when it comes to this, is we need to allow more people to vote, more people who have access to the ballot, the better it is. I'm not going to be for constraining the rights that Nevadans have recently conquered, all mail in ballots,” Democratic District 28 Assemblyman Reuben D’Silva.

Democrats say they will work to expand voting even more.

For mail-in ballots, democrats say they should be dropped off by poll close on election day, but there should be additional time for them to be counted, even if it takes several days.

“This is keeping part and parcel with the polls closing themselves. You can go in and drop you ballot off, drop it in the mail, and just give us that amount of time to make sure everybody's vote is counted, everybody's vote matters,” said D’Silva.

The Governor and republicans also say they want to target unregulated ballot harvesting, a practice they claim became common-place during the pandemic.

They are also calling on an independent non-partisan commission, that would be subject to open meeting laws, to redraw districts every 10 years.