Gov. Joe Lombardo on Thursday vetoed a bill brought by legislative Democrats that would have required voter ID beginning in next year’s elections, meaning that voter ID’s rollout in Nevada will rely on passage of a ballot question next year.

It’s a significant turn of events for AB499, the result of what initially appeared to be a deal between Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) and the Republican governor. Along with requiring voter ID, the bill would have resurrected Yeager’s previously vetoed effort (AB306) to increase ballot drop box access in the days leading up to an election.

The proposal, which was amended in the Senate to include voter ID, received opposition from five Senate Democrats before the Assembly agreed with the proposed changes in a voice vote.

It’s among the most consequential vetoes of Lombardo’s record-breaking 87 bill rejections to date, especially because legislative sources indicated that the Republican governor was on board and because Democratic legislative leaders faced immediate pushback from progressive and voting rights groups for making a deal on voter ID.

Similar to a voter ID ballot question from last year, the bill would have required people voting by mail to provide the last four digits of their Social Security or driver’s license number, or their entire voter identification number, which is assigned to people when they register to vote. In-person voters could use several forms of photo ID, and the bill required the secretary of state to issue voters a free digital ID card and the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide free driver’s licenses to people who demonstrate that they are experiencing financial hardship.

But unlike the ballot measure, it would have allowed the identity of a person voting by mail to be verified solely through their signature, even if the identifying number cannot be immediately verified.

In his veto message, Lombardo said he “wholeheartedly” supports voter ID, but he disagreed with the signature element of the bill, which he said allowed for looser guidelines for mail voters.

“This inconsistency undermines the principle of uniform voter verification,” he wrote.

Lombardo added that the bill does not include his recommended language to increase security of ballot drop boxes, making it “untenable” for him to sign the legislation.

Behind the scenes

Bradley Schrager, a lawyer who represents Democrat-backed causes and played a role in crafting the bill, said in a statement that the governor did not understand how the bill worked and accused him of never having read the voter ID ballot question.

He said the technology for scanning identification numbers on mail-in ballots — which is why the bill allowed ballots to be accepted on a signature basis — doesn't currently exist, and hand verification will badly lengthen ballot processing times. 

Under the bill, a review of a challenged mail-in ballot signature would assess the identification number on the ballot.

Schrager said the governor just focused on demanding voter ID, calling it “public policy malpractice.”

“The Governor lives in some voter ID fantasy world, where actual ballots don't have to be processed and counted,” Schrager said. “The truth is the Governor made a deal, then lost his nerve and broke his word.”

Sources in the governor’s office, granted anonymity to speak freely, said Friday that Schrager may have helped craft the bill but he was not involved in the negotiations. They said there was never an agreement to secure its passage because when the governor offered amended language, Democrats wouldn’t negotiate.

Sources close to Lombardo said that initially, the governor had hoped to set an earlier deadline for election officials to receive mail-in ballots — making that the close of Election Day rather than four days later — but Democrats were unwilling to compromise. They said that prioritizing the review of signatures over identification numbers on mail-in ballots goes against the intent of voter ID. 

A spokesperson for the Lombardo-affiliated Better Nevada PAC, John Burke, said in a press release on Friday that Nevada Democrats referred to the bill as a compromise, but it was intended to undermine the voter ID ballot measure.

“The reality is, they rejected conversations that could have increased election security, required all ballots to be received by Election Day,” Burke said. “Election reforms should not be about partisan advantages.”

Republicans have long supported voter ID, arguing it is a surefire way to decrease voter fraud, which remains extremely rare in state and national elections. Ten states have strict photo ID laws for voting, while three other states have voter ID requirements but do not require a photo and instead accept documents such as bank statements, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A 2019 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that voter ID does not decrease fraud or voter turnout.

Lombardo publicly and financially supported a 2024 ballot question to require voter ID — which passed overwhelmingly and needs to pass again next year — after legislative Democrats declined to pursue voter ID policy changes in the 2023 legislative session.

The deal came to light with three days left in the legislative session and received immediate opposition from groups ranging from local election officials — who said certain provisions could lead to greater voter fraud — to voting rights groups, who panned the last-minute proposal as one that would depress voter turnout.

In a statement Thursday, the steering committee of the voting rights group Let Nevadans Vote criticized the premise of voter ID.

“The veto of AB499 will stop, for now, the misguided and ill-conceived implementation of voter ID in Nevada,” the statement said. 

Yeager had argued that voter ID was inevitable in Nevada based on the results of the 2024 question. Pursuing the change through legislation rather than the ballot question would have allowed the policy to go into effect next year, giving state officials an election cycle to work out any kinks in the policy before the expected high turnout in 2028.

However, voting rights groups disputed this characterization, arguing that the passage of the ballot question was no sure thing because last year’s ballot initiative passed without a significant opposition campaign forming. More than 70 percent of Nevada voters supported the ballot question.

Updated at 10:05 a.m. on 6/13/25 to add context from governor’s office and statement from Lombardo-aligned PAC.