Nevada in a three-front fight with Washington over state’s voter rolls and mail ballots

Aug 27

Written By Nevada Political Journal Staff

Nevada and federal officials are fighting the same question from several directions at once: how to keep voter rolls limited to citizens, and who writes the rules for mail ballots.

The pieces are easy to mix up. Congress has a bill. The White House has an executive order. The Postal Service has a new regulation. The Justice Department and Homeland Security have pressed Nevada for voter data, then sued or accused the state. Democratic attorneys general, including Nevada’s Aaron Ford, have gone to court to stop parts of that agenda. The issues are related. They are not the same case.

The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and a photo ID to vote. The House passed it in February. The Senate has not.

What is moving is President Trump’s March executive order. It told Homeland Security to build citizenship lists and told the Postal Service to set national mail-ballot rules. The administration says the goal is to keep ballots from going to noncitizens.

Nevada has mailed ballots to every active registered voter since 2020. The Legislature first approved that system in a COVID special session, then made it permanent in 2021. A mail ballot still counts if it is postmarked by Election Day and arrives within four days.

USPS finalized a new rule in August based on the executive order. States must send a list of mail voters and use barcoded envelopes. If a name is missing or the envelope is wrong, USPS can refuse the ballot. Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) says Nevada already handles the citizenship check by asking a registrant to sign an affidavit. No documentary proof is required, only a signature.

Shortly after the rule was posted, Ford joined 23 other Democratic attorneys general and D.C. in a suit to block it. The suit argues that the Constitution gives state legislatures the default power over congressional elections, and that the president and USPS cannot rewrite those rules on their own.

Separately, Nevada voters will decide Question 7 in November. The measure would add a photo ID requirement for in-person voting and require mail voters to provide the last four digits of a driver’s license or Social Security number. It passed with 73% in 2024 and needs a second yes vote to take effect.

The postal case is new. The voter-file fight is not. DOJ demanded Nevada’s full, unredacted list in 2025. Aguilar refused. DOJ sued in December. Judge Anne Traum dismissed the case. DOJ appealed to the 9th Circuit. This case is pending.

In July, DHS told Aguilar as many as 15,903 noncitizens might be on Nevada’s rolls. Aguilar asked for proof. In an Aug. meeting, DHS said that number was a ceiling, it had confirmed 185, and more than 14,000 names were still under review. The original figure was not proven.

Heading into November, the SAVE America Act is stalled, the voter-file case is on appeal, the DHS count is unfinished, and the postal rule is in court.

Short timeline: DOJ, DHS, USPS, and Nevada elections

June 25, 2025. DOJ writes Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar seeking records and answers on Nevada’s voter-list maintenance under HAVA and the NVRA, including the statewide voter file.

July–August 2025. Aguilar sends a response and a link to the public voter list. DOJ says that is not enough and demands the complete, unredacted file. Aguilar refuses, citing state privacy law.

December 11, 2025. DOJ sues Aguilar to force turnover of the full voter database. (A federal judge later dismisses the case on Aug. 14, 2026; DOJ appeals.)

March 31, 2026. President Trump signs an executive order directing DHS to build state citizenship lists and USPS to set uniform mail-ballot rules, including lists of mail voters and unique envelope identifiers, so ballots go only to people the administration treats as eligible citizens.

June 24, 2026. In a separate case co-led by AG Ford and Aguilar, a court blocks key parts of that order, including proof-of-citizenship registration rules and a ban on counting ballots received after Election Day under state law.

July 7–14, 2026. DOJ sends all 50 states a letter warning of possible criminal charges if officials knowingly keep noncitizens on the rolls. Aguilar replies that Nevada already answered and that the new letter names no specific defect in Nevada’s process.

July 16–17, 2026. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin tells Aguilar a “preliminary review” found as many as 15,903 possible noncitizens on Nevada’s rolls, including 8,576 name/DOB/address/SSN matches. Aguilar calls the claim “wildly speculative” and says DHS shared no backup.

July 29, 2026. Aguilar writes DHS asking for the data, methods, and proof, and says he will work with the feds if they produce it.

August 13, 2026. DHS and the Secretary of State’s office meet. Federal officials say 15,903 was a ceiling, they have manually confirmed only 185 so far, and more than 14,000 names still need review. They later share a smaller “higher confidence” subset. They do not prove the original 16,000 figure. The review is described as ongoing.

August 21–26, 2026. USPS publishes its final mail-ballot rule implementing the executive order: states must give USPS a mail-voter list and use approved, barcoded envelopes, or USPS can refuse the ballots. Nevada, with Ford as a co-lead, joins a 23-state suit challenging that rule. A Boston judge separately lifts another nationwide block, allowing more of Trump’s mail-voting limits to proceed unless the new case stops them.