We are just two weeks away from Nevada's Presidential Preference Primary (PPP), and ensuring election integrity is paramount. To guarantee a smooth and secure processing of the ballots, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar is visiting county election facilities to verify that each county has sufficient equipment and is fully prepared for the election day.
On Tuesday, Secretary Aguilar visited the Washoe County election facility to meet with the newly-appointed Registrar of Voters, Cari-Ann Burgess. The event gave the press a look at the election integrity measures within the county's election facility.
"When ballots come in, they come in through our garage; we are escorted with security to the post office and back every day," explained Washoe County Registrar of the Voters Cari-Ann Burgess.
"No ballot is left with just one person; we always have a chain of custody. We have a chain of custody paperwork. We follow the laws very strictly, and you can see behind us the cage where the ballots are kept. Nobody here is ever left alone; everything is always left with two people and a bipartisan team," said Burgess.
During the press conference, concerned citizens expressed their worries about the perceived restrictions on election observers.
"We're concerned that voters are stuck in the fish bowl. We cannot observe what's going on the floor."
Voters have a direct line of communication with the Secretary of State's office if they encounter any issues with the election process.
"We went to the legislature this past session. We were able to secure funding for three investigators: one criminal investigator and two civil investigators who will look at those reports and contact the filer," explained Aguilar.
Another major update that is in the works is the "Voter Registration and Election Management Solution, or VREMS. It will establish a centralized top-down statewide voter registration database that connects all 17 counties. The Secretary of State's Office informed us that Secretary Aguilar had requested $30m from Governor Joe Lombardo and the Nevada Legislature, and that the budget request was granted.
"The Voter Registration Election Management System, we are implementing that project in April. That will help us implement top-down voter registration but also bring transparency to the process even more. So, we have as a state the picture of the data happening across the state." explained Aguilar.
The Secretary of State's office will be transparent about the number of filed complaints; Secretary Aguilar says they got around 700 complaints in 2022.
Check out the Secretary of State's Office website for 2024 Election Information
