Both major parties lose registered voters as more identifying as nonpartisan in Nevada

A voter returns his voting machine activation card after casting his ballot at an early voting polling site in the Desert Breeze Community Center Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Photo by: Steve Marcus

Hundreds more registered voters joined the Nevada rolls in June, but more are registering as nonpartisan as numbers for both major parties declined, according to a news release from Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. 

The state reported the number registered voters was up by 307 in June as compared to May, bringing the total to 2,134,549. 

Nonpartisan active registered voters increased by 7,300 or 0.97%. Democratic Party voters declined by 2,037 or 0.33%, while Republicans lost 3,851 or 0.63%. Voters registered with the Independent American Party and Libertarian Party of Nevada, the top two outside of the two major parties also were down slightly. 

Of the 2,134,549 active registered voters in Nevada: 

• 763,498 are Nonpartisan (35.77%); 

• 612,959 are Democrats (28.72%); 

• 610,735 are Republicans (28.61%); 

• 93,831 are members of the Independent American Party (4.40%); 

• 15,969 are members of the Libertarian Party of Nevada (0.75%); and 

• 37,557 are members of other minor political parties (1.76%). 

According to the news release, it’s common for registration statistics to fluctuate, especially before or after an election cycle.  

Elections offices are required to wait until after an election to remove voters they have identified as inactive, which can take a few months to be completed.  

Updates have been made more efficient due to universal mail-in ballots as counties are more easily able to identify inactive voters. 

Voters who receive a mail-in ballot for a voter who hasn’t updated their address are encourages to write “return to sender” on the envelope to aid voter registration list maintenance.