Week of June 4, 2026

From the editor’s desk

Early voting in Nevada’s primary elections started on May 23 and ends tomorrow, while Election Day proper is June 9, so it’s a good time to discuss a good ol’ American tradition—voter suppression.

Yesterday, Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, speaking to oppose the U.S. Supreme Court’s effective gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in April, listed a few historical examples: 

We had all kinds of ways to keep Black people from voting. We had poll taxes. We had literacy tests. … I think in some places even required them to count how many jelly beans were in a jar.

She is correct about the jelly beans in a jar. Bubbles in a bar of soap, too.

The practice of requiring Black voters to complete senseless, impossible tasks is antiquated, thankfully—but threats to many voters’ rights remain, and since President Trump returned to the White House, they have escalated.

In 2025, Trump issued an executive order attempting to make it harder to register to vote or apply for an absentee ballot. A federal judge blocked those provisions in 2026.

In March, Trump signed another executive order. Reuters reported:

Trump’s March 31 executive order directed his administration to compile a list of confirmed U.S. citizens and required the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots ​only to voters on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list.

That list would be overseen by Homeland Security. 

Here in Nevada, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar and Attorney General Aaron Ford have deemed the proposed list unconstitutional. They, along with leaders from 21 other states, are suing the federal government to keep that provision from being enacted. 

Regarding the proposal to deliver ballots only to those on approved lists, some critics say the lists are scrubbed too aggressively. According to research organization Brookings, Trump was “again attempting what many legal and election experts consider a serious overreach of executive authority.”

However, not everyone sees the situation that way. This Is Reno reported on the other side of the coin, detailing this year’s pre-election scrubbing in Washoe County: 

Washoe County’s new registrar says he has delivered on his promise to clean up the voter rolls, inactivating more than 55,000 voters and canceling another 25,000 since taking office 13 months ago, and now considers the list “extremely accurate” heading into the June primary.

Canceled registrations occurred after voters were first made inactive based on undeliverable ballots or USPS address data and then failed to vote in the 2022 and 2024 general elections.

“From the month I came in as ROV until present, I have inactivated 55,501 voters and canceled 25,012 voters for inactivity and not participating in the voting process,” Registrar of Voters Andrew McDonald said. “There was no disenfranchisement. (It was) simply our office following the rules of NRS when voters do not take action by updating the record or voting.”

Regardless of how you feel about these various policy proposals, it’s now time to go vote for candidates who you believe have voters’ best interests in mind.

In Washoe County, 25 locations are still open for early voting or ballot drop-off through tomorrow, Friday, June 5, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Some have translators for Spanish, ASL and other languages. You can find the full list here.

If you still need to register to vote, you can do so here.

If you’d like to see the current breakdown of registered voters by party, the Secretary of State’s office released up-to-date stats this morning:

Of the 2,071,514 active registered voters in Nevada:

• 787,873 are Nonpartisan (38.03%)
• 577,737 are Republicans (27.89%)
• 574,128 are Democrats (27.72%)
• 85,682 are members of the Independent American Party (4.14%)
• 14,099 are members of the Libertarian Party of Nevada (0.68%)
• 31,995 are members of other minor political parties (1.54%)

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor