Nevada senators hear cleanup bill to ensure incarcerated people counted at home addresses for redistricting

Assembly Bill 477, a follow-up to 2019’s AB50, was presented to the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections to clarify how Nevada counts incarcerated people for redistricting. Majority Leader Sandra Howdy, the bill’s sponsor in the Assembly, said the measure is “necessary in order to help Nevada comply with the 02/2019 state law” and to ensure incarcerated persons “are counted at their last known place of residence instead of at the prison solely for the purpose of census counting.”

The bill’s sponsors and supporters said the change is intended to produce fairer, more accurate population counts used for drawing legislative, congressional and Board of Regents districts. Emily Persaud Zamora, executive director of Silver State Voices, told the committee that data collected after the 2020 census showed incomplete or incompatible addresses and other quality problems that limited reallocation; she said only about 51.5% of inmates were reallocated in an early phase and that later work increased that share to roughly 65–70%.

Advocates from civil-rights and criminal-justice organizations described the bill as a technical but important fix. Kayla Maese, civil rights analyst at the ACLU of Nevada, testified in support. Nick Shepack, Nevada state director for the Fines and Fees Justice Center, and Isaac Torrio of Campion Legal Center also testified that counting people at their home addresses better aligns representation with community needs. No formal committee action was taken during the hearing.

Opponents raised administrative concerns and data questions. Oscar Williams, speaking in opposition, asked how the bill would treat noncitizens in custody and whether out-of-state inmates would be issued ballots or otherwise counted; he said the bill could be “a nightmare to administer.” Ellen Gifford raised concerns about whether the bill had been developed in coordination with the Department of Taxation and the state demographer; she said current statute (NRS 360.283, cited in her testimony) gives duties to the state demographer and warned that the proposed changes could compromise the count if the demographer’s office is not engaged.

Supporters replied that AB477 affects only how people are allocated for population counts used in redistricting and “doesn’t have anything to do with the ability to cast a ballot or somebody’s right to vote,” as Zamora put it. Presenters emphasized that the state constitution and the 2019 law intend that people who are incarcerated remain residents of their hometowns for redistricting purposes, and said AB477 would clarify and standardize the process for the Department of Corrections and the state demographer to collect, share and use last-known-address data.

The hearing included questions from senators about how unhoused people are treated in the last-known-address method; presenters said the state already has teams and processes aimed at counting unhoused residents during the decennial census but acknowledged the approach is imperfect for transient populations. Committee members did not take a vote on AB477 during the meeting.

The committee closed the hearing on AB477 after testimony from supporters and opponents and moved to other agenda items. The bill passed the Assembly previously and sponsors told senators they hope for similar action in the Senate.