Nevada GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo has vetoed a bill requiring voter identification, but not because he does not think requiring an ID to vote is important.
Lombardo notified the state secretary of state that his Thursday veto of the legislation is because it is "untenable."
The Nevada Independent reported that the result of Lombardo's veto is that updating the state's requirement for voter identification now rests with a pending ballot issue in 2026.
The governor said the issue is not with requiring an ID to vote. His problem is with how the requirement was written. The bill, he said, "fails to resolve, and may even introduce inconsistencies in how voter identification is reviewed."
For instance, Lombardo said, there's a difference in how voter IDs would be handled for different voting platforms. He said the bill "would apply voter ID requirements unequally between in-person and mail ballot voters and fails to sufficiently guarantee ballot security."
The Independent reported that attorney Bradley Schrager, who represents Democrat-supported causes and had a hand in writing the legislation, accused the governor of lacking an understanding of how the process works.
"The governor lives in some voter ID fantasy world, where actual ballots don't have to be processed and counted," he said. "The truth is the governor made a deal, then lost his nerve and broke his word."
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, voters are asked or mandated to show identification at the polls in 36 states. The remaining 14 states, according to the NCSL, accept alternate forms of identification, including a signature comparison.
Jim Mishler ✉
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