LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Tracking voter data could soon become easier for state officials.
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar is asking state lawmakers for about $30 million to help lawmakers as Nevada launches a statewide voter registration database.
According to the Associated Press, Nevada was one of 15 U.S. states that didn't require any type of electronic pollbook testing or certification during the 2020 election. Poll workers use electronic pollbooks to check in voters and access information like lists of registered voters with names, addresses, and precinct information.
In 2021, the Nevada Legislature passed AB422 to change voter registration systems ahead of the 2024 election cycle. That required the Secretary of State to create a centralized database that collects and stores voter preregistration and registration information from all counties.
The Secretary of State's office said right now, Nevada operates on a "bottom-up" voter registration system. That means all counties collect the data themselves, have their own elections management systems and then send the voter registration data to the State.
Right now, public information officer Cecilia Heston said the state is facing several challenges since the Secretary of State's office gets data in "daily snapshots" from counties. His office said that means they're have to play catch-up.
By transitioning to the new registration system, it would be "top-down." Heston said the state would manage the voter registration database to make election processes across all 17 counties more consistent. It would also allow the Secretary of State's office to have data in real-time.
The Secretary of State's office said the $30 million would be used to standardize elections processes and data procedures and to update IT support ahead of the next elections.
The number of active registered voters continues to grow across Nevada.
In a report released Wednesday, the Secretary of State's office said there are 11,468 more active registered voters in February 2023 compared to January 2023.
The Democratic party say an increase of 0.21%, the Republican party was up 0.19%, nonpartisan active voters went up by 1.51%, Independent American Party voters went up by 0;.77%, and the Libertarian Party went up 0.64%.
As of Wednesday, there are 1,863,360 active registered voters in Nevada.
