LAS VEGAS (AP) – The Republican Governor of Nevada Joe Lombardo unexpectedly imposed a veto on Thursday, which would require voters in the swing state to show the identity of the ballot photo – a conservative priority throughout the country and something that has long been on the list of legislation.
This move carries a dramatic end of one of the most surprising results of the legislative session: a bilateral transaction that combines the requirement to identify voters with a measure supported by democracy to add more mail drops that Lombardo initially imposed on the veto.
The bill gathered in the last days of the session and passed only minutes before the democratic legislature delayed shortly after midnight on June 3. Lombardo was expected to sign it.
In his veto, Lombardo said that “all the heart” supports the voter identification laws, but that he believes that the bill did not fall apart in resolving his concerns about newsletters thrown by mail, as such ballots can still be accepted “only on the basis of a signature match” on the bill.
Since “it will apply unequal requirements for identifying voters between voters in personal and mail and fails to guarantee sufficient security of the vote, I cannot support it,” he said.
The requirements for identifying the voters in the bill reflect an initiative for the vote known as question 7, which Nevada voters voted in predominantly last November. But voters will have to cross it again in 2026 to amend the state constitution. The requirement will then be available by 2028.
Assembly chairman Steve Yeeger, the democrat, who concluded the deal with Lombardo, said, when he introduced the legislation that voters seem to be ready to give the final approval and this adoption of the Voter Identification Act would give the State a start to secure a smooth deployment before the next presidential elections.
In a disgusting statement, Jeger called the governor’s decision “a violation of confidence,” saying he believed that Lombardo had surrendered to pressure him to veto the bill, a designated bill of the meeting 499.
“Lombardo was for the AB499 before he was against him, encouraging all legislative Republicans to support him they did,” Jeger said.
Voting rights groups condemned the legislation, stating that it would make it difficult for some people to vote, including low-income voters or non-market, disabled people and older voters.
Let Nevadans vote, which be described as a non -partisan coalition, said on Thursday in a statement that the governor’s veto only temporarily stopped what he calls “a deluded and unscrupulous performance of the Voter Voter ID in Nevada.”
“Come 2026, Question 7 will still be on the newsletter,” the group said as it describes the requirements for the identification of voters as “strict regimes” that “decide who to exercise their constitutional right to vote and who cannot.”
Polls show that most Americans support voter identification laws and this has been consistently over the years and through party lines. A Gallup survey of 2024 found that 84% of Americans were in favor of the identity requirements of a voting location, in accordance with Gallup’s findings of 2022 and 2016. This included about two -thirds of the Democrats, according to the 2024 survey.
Voters are either required or requested to show an ID card in person in 36 states, according to the National Conference of State Laws.
However, not all conditions require the identification number of the photo. Some accept documents as a bank statement, and some allow voters without an ID card to vote after signing a declaration. Several countries allow workers to consult voters without an ID card.
Lombardo on Thursday also vetoed a bill that would allow the state -of -the -art voters to launch ballots in primary or democratic primary competitions.
The bill seeks to include more than 855,000 voters registered as non-partisan-the largest voting block in the state-in process of nominating candidates for large parties for competitions in Congress and State Services.
Primers opening initiative for all registered voters was rejected by voters last November. The measuring measure, which also tried to apply a vote on Ranked Choice, was confronted with intense opposition from party leaders on both sides, who said it was too wide and confusing.