New County-by-County Analysis of Nevada’s Election Administration in the 2012 Election
Washington, D.C. – The Nevada counties with the worst voting access are Carson City, Elko, and Clark, according to a new report released today by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The report identifies Nevada’s best and worst performers for voting access and voter experience by looking at six factors that reflect voters’ ability to participate in the democratic process: voter turnout, overall voter registration rate, rate of registered voters purged from voting rolls, provisional ballots cast, provisional ballots rejected, and absentee ballots rejected.
In addition to examining Nevada’s worst election offenders, the report offers county-by-county analysis of 16 other swing states—states with the smallest margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in 2012: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The report finds that with election administration delegated to officials and boards in more than 3,000 counties and localities in the United States, the ease with which one exercises his or her right to vote can depend on where he or she lives. This pattern played out in every state that was analyzed.
Key findings from the report include:
- Carson City County performed poorly on four different factors. First, Carson City had a very low voter registration rate—the second worst of the Nevada counties that we analyzed. It also had the worst rate of absentee ballots rejected—more than double the state average—and the second-worst rate of voters removed from the voter rolls.
- Elko County stands out for having the worst voter participation rates among the counties examined in the state. It had both the worst voter registration rate and the worst voter turnout rate.
- Finally, Clark County had the second-worst rate of provisional ballots cast in the state. It also had the third-worst voter registration and voter turnout rates.
The report’s findings provide insights that can help officials, policymakers, and advocates better understand voting administration practices that work. By comparing voter access and experience across Nevada’s counties, officials can determine the best practices for ensuring that citizens have an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process.
Read the report: Unequal Access: A County-by-County Analysis of Election Administration in Swing States in the 2012 Election by Anna Chu, Joshua Field, and Charles Posner
To speak with experts on this issue, please contact Madeline Meth at [email protected] or 202.741.6277.
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