More than $40 million was raised by backers of the abortion and ranked-choice voting ballot questions in 2024, primarily from so-called “dark money” groups that do not have to disclose their donors, campaign finance reports released last week show.

Most of the money went to support Question 3, the failed initiative that would have instituted ranked-choice voting and open primaries in Nevada. The PAC behind the initiative brought in nearly $29 million, making it one of the most expensive ballot question campaigns in recent memory.

Meanwhile, the campaign opposing Question 3 raised more than $3 million in 2024, while the group behind the effort to establish a state constitutional right to an abortion raked in more than $11 million.

Across these two ballot questions, more than a quarter of all donations made in 2024 were made in the fourth quarter of the year, meaning that information on who contributed the money was not publicly available until months after the election because of the state’s quarterly campaign finance system.

The massive financial hauls reflect the high-profile nature of the ballot questions and the increasing involvement of dark money groups in Nevada politics. These groups are registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(4), a type of nonprofit that can raise unlimited funds and lobby on issues that exclusively “promote social welfare” but cannot engage primarily in political activity, which typically consists of donating money to an individual candidate or their campaign. 

More than 80 percent of donations related to the two ballot questions came from dark money groups, including one based in Las Vegas and several left-leaning national groups.

Ranked-choice voting/open primaries

Despite a significant financial advantage thanks to dark money groups, supporters of Question 3 were unable to overcome the opposition from both major political parties in Nevada, which argued the change would confuse voters and overly complicate the state’s election system.

More than 53 percent of Nevada voters opposed the initiative, which is among the several ranked-choice voting efforts to fail nationwide in 2024. It previously passed in the 2022 election after the group behind it raised more than $22 million in that election cycle.

The top donor to Vote Yes on 3 was Article IV, a Virginia-based group that gave more than $18 million and bills itself as a nonpartisan group focused on improving democracy. Although its donors are unknown, tax returns from other groups showed that the group has received grants from left-leaning dark money groups.

Article IV did not respond to a request for comment.

The other significant pro-Question 3 donor was Unite America, a philanthropic fund dedicated to election reform, which donated $9.6 million.

Unite America spokesperson Ross Sherman declined an interview request, but in a statement touted the group’s involvement in similar ballot initiatives across the country and said, “It's unconscionable that nearly 1M Nevadans continue to lack the right to vote in primaries all because they refuse to register with a party."

Katherine Gehl, a Chicago-based businesswoman whose concept of Final-Five Voting was the model for the ranked-choice voting element of Question 3, is a former board member of Unite America.

The Nevada Alliance, a Silver State-based dark money group, was the primary donor opposing the initiative, donating more than $2.7 million to Protect Your Vote NV, the group against Question 3. 

The group is among the most prolific Democratic donors in Nevada politics, and has donated more than $8 million to left-leaning groups and ballot initiatives since 2018. Bradley Schrager, the group’s lawyer, described the group to The Indy last year as “a Nevada nonprofit supporting Democratic and progressive issues.”

Read More: Who’s behind one of Nevada’s biggest Democratic donors? It’s a secret.

Alongside the donations from the dark money groups, the only other donors on either side of the ballot questions were casino companies. The Las Vegas Sands, whose largest shareholder is GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, gave $500,000 to oppose Question 3, while Wynn Resorts donated $250,000 supporting the initiative.

The donations accelerated at the end of the election cycle, with more than one-third of the funds raised coming in October — donations that were not disclosed until January, based on the quarterly state campaign finance reporting system.

Abortion

Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the group behind the effort to establish a constitutional right to an abortion, raised about $6 million from dark money groups, making up more than half of its total haul in 2024.

This included $2 million from the Advocacy Action Fund, $1 million from the Open Society Action Fund, $962,000 from the Tides Foundation and $915,000 from the Nevada Alliance. The group also received $500,000 from billionaire philanthropist Gwendolyn Sontheim Meyer, $250,000 from Elaine Wynn and $50,000 from director Steven Spielberg.

Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom did not respond to a request for comment.

Guardians of the Young, a PAC registered in August to oppose the question, has not filed any campaign finance reports.

More than 64 percent of voters supported the question, which is the first step to establish a constitutional right to an abortion in Nevada. Abortion is already legal through 24 weeks of pregnancy in Nevada, but enshrining it in the state Constitution would make it harder to overturn.

The measure must be approved by a majority of voters in the 2026 election to take effect.