Nevada GOP seeks voter ID measure on 2020 ballot

The Nevada Republican Party intends to place a voter ID measure on the 2020 ballot during the presidential election, a move that would likely generate turnout for the party.

The party’s website says it’s forming a Special Committee to look at initiatives in other states and produce “solid recommendations so that we can take action as soon as the law allows us to start collecting signatures.”

“Once the Special Committee presents their report, the process of filing with the Secretary of State and gathering the required signatures will begin later in 2019.”

“With the vast majority of Americans supporting a voter identification requirement, protecting our elections shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” NVGOP Chairman Michael McDonald said. “However, with the current Legislature unwilling to pass commonsense reforms, Nevadans have been left with no choice but to do it ourselves.”

Sondra Cosgrove, president of the Nevada League of Women Voters is calling the move “a solution without a problem.”

“There is no evidence of in-person voter fraud in Nevada,” said Cosgrove.   “We had quite a few hearings on voter ID in the 2015 legislative session and we saw no evidence provided that in-person voter fraud was happening in our state.”  

“Our election officials are instead focused on the real threats of hacking instead,” said Cosgrove, adding the League of Women Voters of Nevada is hosting an Election Administration and Security Symposium this summer “to make sure the public has the facts about elections.”

Nevada is among 15 states and the District of Columbia, which do not require voters to provide any form of identification.