Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar offered little direct criticism of the Nevada Republican Party for rejecting the state-run presidential preference primary in favor of hosting their own party-run caucus. But he defended the state’s primary election system, calling it more accessible to voters than a caucus held over less than three hours on just one specific day.
“There is a conversation that needs to be had at the ‘25 Legislative Session to say: What do we want to do moving forward?” said Aguilar.
That might include a legislative debate on allowing the political parties to determine what system is in the best interest of their members, he added.
The Nevada State Legislature in 2021 passed legislation requiring presidential preference primaries. The legislation was championed and supported by Democrats, who were pushing for the Silver State to become first on the presidential nomination calendar.
The Nevada Republican Party, which opposed the legislation, announced they would hold a presidential caucus despite the 2021 law, and that they would not consider the results of the presidential primary when awarding delegates at the party’s national convention. The state party also forced candidates to choose which to participate in, adopting rules that blocked caucus entry to any candidate who filed for the primary.
The competing caucus and primary are both less than a month away, and voting advocates are worried people will be confused and become disenfranchised by the process.
“Legally the parties can decide how they pick their nominee,” said Kerry Durmick, Nevada state director at All Voting Is Local. “That’s their choice. My biggest concern is the amount of misinformation because it’s not just impacting their base. It’s now impacting independents, Democrats…”
County administrators this week emphasized that their focus is on election operations. They shied away from discussing the caucus specifically, except to emphasize how county staff and poll workers will direct people asking questions about the Republican caucus to the political party for answers.
Aguilar, the state’s top election official, struck a similar tone during a press conference on election integrity and security.
“We really relied on the party to message its members about the caucus process,” he said. “We are here and we are responsible to run the primary, to make sure (people) understand why we do the primary and the way we do it.”
Both the secretary of state and the counties have attempted to get ahead of potential confusion. The secretary of state sent mailers announcing the presidential primary and explicitly stating that only candidates who filed for the primary would appear on the ballot. Clark and Washoe counties have both included similar language in the information they are directing the public to.
Trump, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ryan Binkley will participate in the Republican caucus, which is happening Thursday, Feb. 8. (Chris Christie filed to compete in the caucus but then announced he is dropping out of the race. Ramaswamy has also suspended his campaign and has endorsed Trump). Nikki Haley, John Castro, Heath Fulkerson, Donald Kjornes, Hirsh Singh, Mike Pence and Tim Scott are competing in the Republican presidential preference primary, which is happening Tuesday, Feb. 6.
Republicans may participate in both the caucus and the primary, assuming they are eligible under the caucus rules passed by the political party, which include a requirement that participants be registered Republicans at least 30 days before the caucus. That deadline has already passed.
By contrast, Nevada allows for same-day voter registration, meaning Nevadans can register all the way up to close of polls on Election Day.
Durmick says she would have liked to see a more robust communication and outreach effort from the Nevada Republican Party to all voters.
“We are hearing a lot of confusion,” she added. “If you’re a voter that doesn’t vote in every election but would like to in this, this is a lot of information. And it’s very technical. That’s where the issue is.”