The Nevada election reform measure now heads to governor’s desk following a cross-party agreement in the state legislature.
Nevada lawmakers have reached a rare bipartisan agreement on voting reforms, combining Republican-backed voter ID requirements with Democratic-supported expansion of ballot drop boxes in a newly passed bill that awaits the governor’s signature.
The compromise comes in the form of Assembly Bill 499, which passed the Nevada Senate on June 2 with a 16–5 vote and now heads to Gov. Joe Lombardo’s desk to be signed into law.
Lombardo, a Republican who has long advocated for voter ID requirements, had previously vetoed a bill aimed at expanding ballot drop boxes, citing concerns over election integrity and oversight. The new bill responds to these concerns by including provisions that drop boxes must be physically secure and monitored at all times during operation hours. When not in use, they must be secured against tampering, and the Secretary of State must set monitoring standards by regulation.
An inquiry sent to Lombardo’s office asking whether he intends to sign the measure into law was not immediately returned.
Jim DeGraffenreid, the Nevada GOP’s national committeeman, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal several days before the legislation passed that the party was opposed to AB 499 due to concerns about expanded drop box access and what he described as weakened signature verification rules. While he acknowledged support for the bill’s voter ID requirements, DeGraffenreid said the party “reluctantly” could not back the legislation as a whole.
The Nevada Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment on whether it continues to object to the final version of AB 499, which was amended in the final days of the session and passed with bipartisan support.
The legislation also represents a significant shift for Nevada Democrats, who have historically opposed voter ID laws.
Meanwhile, there is broad public support in Nevada for voter ID laws, with over 70 percent of voters endorsing a 2024 ballot measure that would implement voter ID requirements as a constitutional amendment. Yet the measure must pass again in 2026 before taking effect due to Nevada’s two-election approval requirement for ballot measures.
In the days leading up to the vote on AB 499, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, a Democrat, proposed amendments to the bill in response to what he said were requests by Lombardo to include additional measures to secure drop boxes and the voter ID requirements.
A number of left-leaning groups, including the ACLU of Nevada, Institute for a Progressive Agenda, Battle Born Progress, and Let Nevadans Vote, opposed the voter ID amendments.
“We are outraged regarding this last-minute amendment of Assembly Bill 499 concerning the implementation of voter ID,” Emily Persaud-Zamora, executive director of Silver State Voices, said in a statement. “This amendment will undo all the progress and efforts that the state of Nevada has made to expand and ensure that all eligible voters can exercise their right to vote. We believe this amendment represents a solution in search of a problem.”
Yaeger acknowledged in remarks to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that some of the bill’s provisions will be “particularly challenging and difficult” for some individuals and groups to support, but said that, on balance, it’s a reasonable compromise and “we have a duty to move forward” with the measure.
By Tom Ozimek
