Committee hears bill to let clerks update voter signatures during ballot curing, shifts certain notices to Secretary of State

Assemblymember Hanadi Nadim on behalf of the sponsor presented Assembly Bill 261 on procedural changes to Nevada’s voter‑registration and ballot‑curing processes, telling the committee: “This bill seeks to implement a few procedural adjustments to the voter registration process to improve the efficiency of election administration.” AB261 would let county and city clerks replace a voter’s signature on file when the voter provides an updated signature as part of a ballot‑curing contact, and would shift the responsibility for mailing certain notices created by automatic voter registration (AVR) transactions from county clerks to the Nevada Secretary of State’s office. The bill’s effective date is 01/01/2026, though the language allows responsible parties to begin preparing on passage and approval.

Supporters said the bill would reduce the number of ballots flagged for signature curing and ease workload pressures on county clerks. Emily Persaud Zamora of Silver State Voices told the committee that 693,596 Nevadans voted by mail in 2024 and urged the change as a practical reform; several other community groups and civil‑rights organizations, including Campion Legal Center, ACLU of Nevada, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, All Voting Is Local Action Nevada, Battle Born Progress, and the Culinary Union, also testified in favor. Advocates pointed to the 2024 general election figures the sponsor cited: more than 32,000 mail ballots were flagged for inadequate signatures, about 23,644 of those were cured, and more than 9,000 were not cured and therefore not counted.

Mark Wlaschin, a representative of the Secretary of State’s office, told the committee that the office supports shifting mailing responsibility but does not yet have comprehensive cost data across all 17 counties: “This process was implemented starting January 1, so we don't have very clear data exactly across all 17 counties.” Wlaschin also clarified that the bill would not give the Secretary of State authority to register voters; that authority would remain with county election officials and the notices mailed by the Secretary of State would still be returned to county clerks.

Opponents raised concerns about centralizing functions in the state office and about privacy and process duplication. Testimony in opposition included calls to preserve the local role of county clerks in voter‑registration maintenance and skepticism that the change would solve underlying roll maintenance issues. Individual commenters also raised concerns about exposing signatures on mailed materials and asserted legal or fiscal questions about centralization. One opponent cited NRS 293.5768 in the course of discussing recent changes that expanded automatic voter registration.

Washoe County staff testified as neutral on the policy while providing a county‑level cost estimate: Cadence Matejevich said Washoe County estimates the change would save $96,631 per fiscal year based on its current registration processing averages. Several community groups and election‑access advocates urged the committee to advance AB261 as a targeted efficiency measure that could reduce future curing needs and help election officials process ballots more quickly.

No formal committee vote on AB261 was recorded at this hearing; the committee opened and closed the public hearing and took testimony from supporters, opponents, and neutral parties.