Nevada governor launches group backing voter ID requirement as rival coalition opposes his efforts

Gov. Joe Lombardo (R-NV) announced he is leading a pro-voter ID super PAC as an election security ballot fight heats up in the battleground state of Nevada.

The Republican governor revealed he would chair the bipartisan Nevada Voter ID Coalition on Thursday. The news came the same day an opposing group unveiled a super PAC to stop Nevada from adopting a ballot question that would require voters to provide proof of their identities when voting either by mail or in person.

Battle Born Progress is the progressive coalition wielding the Nevada Voter Freedom Alliance to oppose Lombardo’s pro-voter ID initiative. The governor’s group was previously called the Better Nevada Ballot Advocacy Committee.

Nevada does not require voters to provide any type of identification before casting a ballot in most cases. The primary requirement for voting is a signature that matches the one in the state’s files. Since he ascended to the governor's mansion in 2023, Lombardo has criticized voting practices in his state and vowed to pass voter ID laws.

“We require people to have a valid form of identification to get on a plane, to operate a motor vehicle, or to purchase alcohol or cigarettes but not to cast a vote in an election. That is illogical,” he said during his State of the State speech in January 2023. “If the legislature can’t make meaningful progress in this critical area, these reforms should be placed before the voters during the next election."

The Nevada governor has followed through on his commitment. Following his debut address to the state last year, Lombardo backed an effort that would have required ID to vote. After it stalled in the Democratic-controlled legislature, the governor threw his weight behind taking his priority straight to voters.

Lombardo has touted the ballot measure as a bipartisan effort that “more than 80% of Nevada voters” would likely support.

“I am incredibly proud of the hundreds of volunteers, Democrats, Republicans, and independents, that helped make this a reality so the voters of this state can finally vote on a policy that so many support,” he declared after the ballot measure qualified in July.

However, some Democratic elected officials in the state claim requiring photo identification to vote is “unconstitutional” and that Republicans are just looking for a fight.

“This isn't a problem that exists in the state of Nevada,” Democratic Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager said last year. “It's simply a solution in search of a problem.” With Battle Born Progress’s formation of Nevada Voter Freedom Alliance, Yeager has added a prominent cheerleader to his corner.

Shelbie Swartz, the group’s secretary and the executive director of the progressive PAC, said in a statement on Wednesday, “Voter ID laws could severely undermine the fairness of our democracy. We must advocate for our system that values and includes every Nevadans voice rather than one that pushes some citizen to the margins."

Lombardo is hopeful bipartisan support for the measure will cancel out progressives’ opposition.

“I think if you look at the polling data, reference to election integrity, [it's] holding positive across party lines,” he said last May. A Nevada Independent poll last year indicated 74% of those surveyed supported implementing a voter ID law.

As Nevadans battle over the ballot measure, Republicans nationwide are pushing to enhance election security ahead of the 2024 election. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is pushing Congress to support the SAVE Act, which prevents noncitizens from voting in federal elections. Republicans warn that even a small number of illegal votes could change the outcome of critical elections.

Trump lost Nevada by just over 2 percentage points during the 2020 presidential election, and recent polling indicates he is in a dead heat with Vice President Kamala Harris to win the state this fall. Other competitive races in the state will likely come down to the wire as well, with Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) fending off a challenge from decorated combat veteran Sam Brown.

While Republicans warn noncitizen voting is a threat to democratic elections and Lombardo touts a "very popular and commonsense requirement that voters present photo identification at the polls," the measure continues to raise the ire of progressives nationwide.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently suspended his independent presidential campaign to endorse Trump, recently suggested Democratic opposition stems from concerns they would lose core constituencies.

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"There are tens of millions of people in this country who are eligible to vote, but they don't have government-issued photo ID, they don't have driver's licenses. Most of them are Democratic constituencies," he said during a recent appearance. "They're elderly people whose licenses have expired. They're young students and they're urban minorities who don't have a driver's license because they don't need one."

Lombardo would likely agree with those claims. Swartz, however, slammed the governor's pro-voter ID measure as “nothing more than a calculated effort to silence thousands of eligible Nevadans, especially seniors, people of color, rural voters, students, and low-income communities."