A “centralized statewide voter registration database” that consolidates election processes and data from all of Nevada’s 17 counties into a single system, the VREMS project was first used during an election cycle in which historic political realignments favored Republicans, including with Asian and Hispanic voters in the Silver State.
The rollout has been touted by officials as an overall success, though the state’s Republican governor is calling for election reforms to fix underlying problems he says are slowing down the results process.
Nevada was one of seven battleground states this cycle where elections were decided by close margins. The Silver State also has a reputation for being one of the slowest states to certify results in the country.
In the backdrop of the 2020 election cycle, during which disgruntled political candidates filed multiple postelection lawsuits in Nevada, Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar began in the spring of 2021 an effort to make election processes more efficient by initiating VREMS.
After trial election runs throughout the spring to transfer data and work the kinks out of the system, the VREMS network launched in September 2023, just a few months before Nevada residents headed to the polls.
The rollout appeared to go smoothly, according to a postelection report the secretary of state’s office pointed the Washington Examiner to.
The first phase of the VREMS project was “successfully implemented across Nevada” and increased the “security and transparency” of the 2024 elections, according to the review.
The secretary of state’s office added that VREMS included a streamlined voting process with the use of a new poll pad and enhanced cybersecurity measures.
The VREMS system also helped Aguilar’s team support short-staffed polling locations virtually throughout the election cycle, work through administration backlogs at local county election offices, and help with other training and technical support “far beyond what was previously possible.”
Gov. Joe Lombardo’s (R-NV) office declined to speak directly about the VREMS rollout, deferring to Aguilar for comment on the election system’s debut.
A Lombardo spokeswoman did, however, point to a statement from the governor the day after the election urging the state to handle underlying problems that VREMS does not necessarily pinpoint to expedite its often drawn-out election results process.
“Like many of you, I’m frustrated with how long it takes for our state to finalize its elections,” Lombardo said in a post on X. “Last session, I introduced the Election Integrity Act, which would have expedited our results process, but it was unfairly denied a hearing. Our state and our nation deserve timely election results. I will continue to fight for a bipartisan solution next session.”
The Associated Press did not call Nevada’s presidential race and a tight Senate battle for President-elect Donald Trump and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), respectively, until four days after the election.
Lombardo said the bill he pushed last year would help election results roll in faster by mandating that all mail-in ballots be received by the time polls close. His legislation would also end universal mail-in ballots and stop “unregulated” ballot harvesting.
Current Nevada law allows ballots to be counted up to four days after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by that day.
Nevadans deserve to have confidence that our elections are free and fair. It’s time we institute common-sense election reforms:
✅Voter ID
✅Mail-In Ballots Are Received When Polls Close
❌End Universal Mail-In Ballots
❌End Unregulated Ballot Harvestinghttps://t.co/fZ8JkFP7iR— Governor Joe Lombardo (@JosephMLombardo) January 31, 2023
In a statement issued a few weeks later, Lombardo said he was “grateful” for Aguilar’s work in administering the election certification process while once again emphasizing that “all ballots should be received by Election Day.”
“This must be immediately addressed in the upcoming legislative session,” the governor continued.
One of the biggest challenges Nevada officials faced while trying to gather swift and accurate election results was due to slow-downs stemming from the state’s same-day registration policy.
Nevada adopted the policy in 2019. Because people can now walk into an election location, register as voters, and cast their ballots on Election Day, the policy created longer waits and ballot-processing times.
Election certification problems were also caused by troubles with signature ballot verification, particularly from young voters in Clark and Washoe counties. Aguilar noted disappointment after a record number of ballots had to be scrapped because of unresolved questions about ineligible signatures. More than 9,000 mail-in ballots with inadequate signatures had to be tossed after Nevada’s deadline to “cure” or fix any problems with ballots passed on Nov. 12.
The VREMS project was touted as a way to speed up any problems with signature verification. But with its purpose to function by combining all signatures already in county systems into one database, the problems with young voters simply not having signatures in the system or failing to put their signatures on their ballots are not necessarily attributable to failings within the VREMS project.
Lombardo has argued that Nevada should not rely on signature verification and instead institute statewide voter ID requirements to vote.
Concerns were also raised after Nevada discovered more than 1,600 uncounted ballots in Clark County, the state’s most populous county, nine days after the election.
The error was not due to problems with the VREMS system, the governor’s office noted, and did not impact any election results.
Aguilar acknowledged that “everything wasn’t perfect” during the elections and said he stood ready to work with Lombardo and the state legislature to improve “election-related statutes in time for the 2026 election cycle.”
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“There’s always more that can be done,” he said.
With Democrats controlling both chambers of Nevada’s legislature, it is likely that Lombardo’s election reform proposals, which would serve as supplements to VREMS, will face pushback, particularly surrounding its voter ID requirement.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
