More than 30 percent of Nevadans are not confident in the security of American elections this year, but a much higher number are confident in the integrity of Nevada’s elections, a recent poll found.

The results, shared exclusively with The Nevada Independent, found that about 14 percent of Nevadans were not confident in the state’s elections, including 22 percent of Republicans. There is much less trust in nationwide elections, with 31 percent of Nevadans and nearly half of GOP respondents expressing distrust that those races would be run properly.

“Everybody tends to have a much better feeling about where they live and the honesty and integrity of their neighbors and colleagues,” said Dave Sackett, partner at The Tarrance Group, the GOP pollster that conducted the survey. “People just sort of think that the election system is in better shape here.”

The findings underscore the lingering distrust of the nation’s elections after Republicans — led by former President Donald Trump — pushed unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. The poll found that more than one-third of Nevadans viewed President Joe Biden’s victory as illegitimate (including two-thirds of Republicans) and that about 40 percent were either extremely or very concerned that the 2024 results could be imperiled by irregularities.

The survey of 600 likely voters in mid-September was conducted on behalf of the Democracy Defense Project (DDP), a nonprofit designed to build trust in elections whose Nevada branch is co-led by former Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval and former Democratic Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins. The poll also found Vice President Kamala Harris with a slight lead over Trump in this year’s presidential race.

“I’m pleased with the fact that Nevadans have a lot more confidence in the Nevada system than the national system,” said Perkins, who attributed it to yearslong efforts to improve election trust in the state. “It just means we're doing something right.”

About 37 percent of respondents said they were very confident that the casting and counting of ballots in the state is secure. About 24 percent were not confident, including 42 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of independents.

Although Democrats are more likely to have faith in elections, some Democrats polled were also wary of improper behavior. More than 60 percent of Democrats said they were concerned that Trump and the GOP would engage in improper ballot activities, and about 70 percent of Republicans surveyed were concerned about the same behaviors from Democrats.

Democrats have said that national Republicans' slew of election-related lawsuits in Nevada are a plan to sow distrust. Those lawsuits center on the state’s maintenance of voter rolls and mail ballot laws — key elements of the state’s electoral system.

Perkins said he thinks these types of long-shot lawsuits and rhetoric that casts doubt on elections play a role in lowering trust.

“Some folks will read into [the lawsuits] how they want to read into it, and it creates that bias,” he said. “The rest of it, though, is still the speeches, the rallies.”

In addition, more than half of respondents said they trust election workers to count ballots fairly, while about 40 percent said that these employees are more partisan than they appear and need to be monitored closely to avoid benefitting their preferred candidate.

In an interview, Sandoval said trust in election workers can be bolstered through education.

“Once people understand and become more familiar with the processes with regard to election workers and the safeguards in place, they'll feel better about it,” Sandoval said. “It’s DDP’s job to really get the information out there about [that] and that these are good people that are doing yeoman's work in terms of making sure that we have safe and secure elections.”

The poll also asked respondents what they considered the biggest threats to election integrity. Notably, none of the most common answers dealt with actual election processes and instead included the media’s role in election coverage, artificial intelligence creating misinformation and foreign propaganda influencing elections.

Pollsters also found wide support for a slew of election-related reforms, many of which are already policies in Nevada, such as paper ballots being stored in locked facilities and ensuring that voting machines are not connected to the internet. 

Sackett said this underscores the importance of informing voters about the state’s election security laws.

“Simple messaging that sort of talks about the basic things that are being done really can have a very significant impact across the board,” he said.