Secretary of state launches push to reassure voters that Nevada elections remain safe and secure for midterms

Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026 | 2 a.m. Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar is unveiling an expanded effort to assure voters that the state’s mail‑ballot approach will remain unchanged and secure for the upcoming midterm elections. The initiative follows last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that blocked the Trump administration from imposing nationwide requirements on mail ballots, such as proposed recipient‑list and envelope‑barcode mandates. The decision permits Nevada and other states to continue using their existing mail‑in voting procedures. “Nevada’s going to proceed to tally elections arsenic we ever have,” Aguilar said. He announced that text‑message outreach will begin this week, adding that his office is also collaborating with the Nevada Broadcasters Association on televised commercials. Aguilar described the broader campaign as having more funding and a clearer voter‑assurance message than similar outreach in prior elections. “To amended voters that our elections are coming up. You request to participate. Your ballots are secure. They’re safe. They volition get counted,” Aguilar explained. Mail voting remains widely used in Nevada. Approximately 60% of voters cast mail ballots in the June primary, while 45% did so in the 2024 general election, according to data from the secretary of state’s office. The push comes after months of uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s proposed changes to mail‑ballot delivery and ongoing criticism of voting by mail. Aguilar said he is not concerned about the security of Nevada’s elections, noting that recent upgrades have made them safer. The state has rolled out new ballot‑marking devices (BMDs) statewide for the June primary after testing the system in three smaller counties during the 2024 general election. Aguilar said the devices make elections more efficient and secure by cutting the number of flash drives needed at each polling place from 50 to just three or four, reducing the amount of equipment that must be tracked. Voters uneasy about mailing their ballots can instead drop them off in person, noted Sondra Cosgrove, enforcement manager of the nonpartisan civic group Vote Nevada. She pointed out that, unlike many other states, Nevada has kept the number and size of polling locations steady even as mail voting grew, providing plenty of in‑person voting sites. “We person 2 full, implicit systems,” Cosgrove said. “So if for immoderate reason, you don’t consciousness definite astir 1 system, conscionable spell implicit to the different strategy and ballot that way.” Nevada also allows voters to complete a mail ballot and deliver it directly to a polling location, eliminating worries about Postal Service delays. Aguilar emphasized the dedication of election workers, saying they take great pride in their roles and that he trusts them to perform their duties well. “The information that they’re truthful committed to the effort makes maine assured that they’re going to bash a large job,” Aguilar said. Despite White House attempts to erode confidence in mail‑in ballots, Aguilar said he does not fear that voters will view mail voting as risky. “I deliberation we’ve been beauteous accordant with our messaging that message ballots work,” he stated. Aguilar dismissed the Trump administration’s attempts to alter the election process as nonsense. He noted that Trump, who has voted by mail in Florida at his Mar‑a‑Lago residence, has repeatedly claimed mail ballots are prone to fraud and that restrictions are essential for election integrity, despite a lack of documented evidence of widespread fraud involving mail ballots. “They’re having to edifice to intimidation and threats alternatively than relying connected bully argumentation and bully messaging,” Aguilar said. “It shows you however hopeless they are.” Aguilar expressed particular concern about the possible suppression of Latino voters, who constitute roughly one‑fifth of Nevada’s electorate. In July, the Department of Homeland Security alleged that Nevada’s voter rolls contained 16,000 noncitizens. “Which is wholly false,” Aguilar said. He added that voters have told him they fear immigration enforcement appearing at polling places to intimidate them. In May, PBS journalist Liz Landers asked Trump whether he would deploy the National Guard or ICE agents to voting sites in November. Trump replied that he would “do thing indispensable to marque definite we person honorable elections.” The NAACP spearheaded a coalition that filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to block the Trump administration from sending armed agents to polling places before the midterms. The suit names the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice and the FBI, and aims to prevent the government “from deploying agents in a mode that unlawfully intimidates voters or anyone urging or aiding voters.” The filing follows a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which FBI Director Kash Patel was questioned about whether he would commit to not deploying agents to the polls. Patel declined to rule it out, stating, “the FBI volition travel the law. If there’s a crushed to spell determination due to the fact that there’s been a usurpation of law, we will.” Aguilar said legal documents are ready to be filed if federal agents appear at polls;