NEVADA VIEWS: Voter ID: Repairing what isn’t broken

NEVADA VIEWS: Voter ID: Repairing what isn’t broken By Quentin-Michael Savwoir Special to the Las Vegas Review-Journal August 15, 2026 - 9:00 pm We hold a fundamental belief that every American who calls this nation home deserves elections we can trust, with each lawful ballot counted and each unlawful one prevented. This principle transcends party, community, or faction; it belongs to Nevada. It is precisely because I share this belief that I address Question 7, which would impose voter identification requirements at the polls. Bob McClure of the James Madison Institute authored a recent Review‑Journal commentary supporting Question 7, and I respect his right to do so. I am responding to his argument—not with contempt, but with full appreciation of Nevada’s own record. In Nevada, our neighbors run the elections. They verify signatures on every mail‑in ballot by matching them against DMV and voter‑registration records. They operate the ballot‑tracking system that lets voters follow their ballot from issuance to receipt. They manage the cure process that notifies voters of signature mismatches and offers them a chance to correct them. They conduct post‑election risk‑limiting audits that statistically confirm results. Bipartisan canvass watchers—our neighbors—observe the counting facilities. These systems work. The rare instances of voter irregularities in Nevada have never altered an election’s outcome and have been promptly investigated and resolved under existing law. Question 7 does not strengthen that record; it casts doubt on it. It asks Nevadans to view the dedicated public servants who administer our elections and decide that their efforts are insufficient. I do not accept that conclusion, nor do I believe most Nevadans do. Mr. McClure cites Florida as his model. Florida is not Nevada. Our demographics differ, our infrastructure differs, our history differs. Nevada deserves a solution designed for Nevada, by Nevadans, grounded in Nevada’s own evidence—not borrowed from another state. What Question 7 asks of Nevada is simple: pay a real cost to solve a problem our own evidence shows does not exist. That cost has a face. It is the elderly resident on a fixed income in Elko who no longer drives. It is the working parent in North Las Vegas juggling two jobs who cannot reach a DMV with limited hours. It is the rural Nevadan who has mailed a lawful ballot for years and now faces a Social Security provision that turns a routine act of citizenship into a bureaucratic obstacle. These are our neighbors, our friends, our family members. Nevada, a state that has built one of the safest and best‑administered election systems in the country, deserves better than a constitutional amendment that treats its voters as suspects. What kind of Nevada do we want to be? The answer lies in our record—and our record says we protect every voter, every time. I have spent my life walking in the legacy of men and women who bled for the right I am asking you to protect. John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge so that the act of voting would never again require a person to prove their worthiness to participate in their own democracy. I carry a debt to those who sacrificed so that I could stand here, in the city, and say clearly: Nevada’s elections have earned our confidence. Our neighbors have earned our trust. I invite you to stand with Nevada’s record, with Nevada’s election workers, and with every Nevadan whose ballot deserves an unobstructed path to the ballot box. Vote “no” on Question 7. Protect Nevada’s right to vote. Quentin-Michael Savwoir is president of the NAACP Las Vegas.