(The Center Square) – A bill to open Nevada primary elections to nonpartisan voters will go before a Nevada Senate committee Thursday.
Nevada Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, introduced the bill, which faces opposition from Republicans. Currently, under state law, to vote in a political party’s primary, a person must be a registered member of that party.
Assembly Bill 597 will be heard by the state Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee at 4 p.m. Thursday.
This bill would amend state law to allow voters who identify as nonpartisan to vote in the primary elections of either the Democratic or Republican Party.
AB 597 states that to vote by mail-in ballot, these voters would have no more than 14 days before the primary election date to submit a request to a Nevada county clerk. Furthermore, these voters can also cast their votes in person during the early voting period.
Registered voters can’t request a mail-in ballot for more than one party. Nevada county clerks will keep track of which political party nonpartisan voters request a ballot for.
In addition to state primary elections, AB 597 would also allow nonpartisan voters to vote in a party’s presidential primary election.
Nonpartisan voters have been excluded from voting in primary elections for “far too long,” Yeager said in a video posted to X on Tuesday. He called this “wrong.”
Letting nonpartisan voters cast ballots in state primaries “is the right thing to do,” he said.
According to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, nonpartisan voters account for 34% of the state’s registered voters, making them the largest voting bloc.
Republicans and Democrats each make up 29% of Nevada’s registered voters.
The Nevada GOP denounced the bill after it was introduced.
GOP state Chairman Michael J. McDonald said certain legislators are attempting to “overrule the will of the people by pushing this bill at the last minute.” McDonald said this bill has had “no time for proper debate or public input.”
He called AB 597 a “blatant insult and disregard to the will of the voters.”
The Nevada Republican Party noted in its press release that it thinks political parties have the “constitutional right” to choose candidates “through a process determined by their members.”
McDonald pointed out that nonpartisan voters can vote for independent candidates or their own parties on the general election ballot.
“They do not need, nor should they be allowed, to interfere in Republican or Democrat primaries,” he explained.
The Nevada GOP urged Nevada lawmakers to reject AB 597.
Democrats hold majorities in both the Assembly and Senate, but don’t have enough seats to overturn a veto from Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo if he decides against the bill.
Last year, 55% of Nevadans voted against a ballot measure seeking to allow nonpartisan voters to participate in closed primaries.
