Nevada Elections Division adopts four regulations tightening audit, reporting and affidavit rules
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Summary
At an adoption hearing, the Nevada Secretary of State Elections Division adopted four proposed regulations (R001‑26P, R002‑26P, R003‑26P and R103‑25P) to send to the Legislative Commission; changes include a five‑business‑day resignation notice, required reporting of campaign account interest, expanded audit flexibility and clarified standards for affidavit 'personal knowledge.'
Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Mark Velaschin presided over an adoption hearing in Carson City and announced that the Secretary of State’s Elections Division has adopted four proposed regulations — LCB files R001‑26P, R002‑26P, R003‑26P and R103‑25P — which the office will forward to the Legislative Commission for final consideration.
The regulations make several administrative and transparency changes to Nevada election rules. R001‑26P requires a former legislator who resigns to notify the Secretary of State of the resignation no later than five business days after the resignation becomes effective; the change ties into existing campaign‑finance provisions governing disposition of unspent contributions. R002‑26P requires candidates who must report campaign contributions to include any bank interest accrued in their campaign account on routine campaign finance reports to the Secretary of State.
R003‑26P revises post‑election certification audit procedures for counties that use electronic tabulators. The regulation requires county clerks to conduct post‑election certification audits of electronic tabulators and to transmit audit results to the Secretary of State within nine days after the election but before the canvass, including an explanation and investigation of any discrepancy discovered during the audit. On the record the Elections Division removed a fixed sampling minimum (previously stated as not less than 1%) to allow counties greater flexibility in sample size and changed the notification trigger so that the Secretary of State must be informed if any discrepancy is discovered during an audit.
R103‑25P prescribes form and content requirements for affidavits filed to challenge a registrant’s citizenship or residency and clarifies the definition of “personal knowledge.” The regulation ties the term to NRS 293.535 (and references NRS 293.303), defining personal knowledge as firsthand experience or observation and excluding speculation, hearsay and information obtained solely from database reviews; the rule also requires county clerks to assess whether the filer is an elector or otherwise a "reliable person" and retain assessment records for two years.
Public comment during the hearing was limited. Kayla Maesse, identified herself as “policy manager with ASOU of Nevada,” said her organization submitted a proposed conceptual amendment and thanked staff: “Thank you to you and your team, Mark.” Later, public commenter Ellen Gifford described prolonged delays on a public‑records request she was representing, saying the requester received repeated extension memoranda from the Secretary of State’s office over multiple years and urging the office to contact the requester to explain the delays. Gifford said, “It’s easy to think after all this time that someone is having a lark of some kind,” and asked that “someone in the Secretary of State’s office step up and address this issue.”
Velaschin said there were no callers for the individual rule items and announced each regulation was adopted as read into the record and would proceed to the Legislative Commission, which he said will meet on Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. for final review. The hearing concluded with procedural reminders on next steps and contact information for the Elections Division.
