Nevadans overwhelmingly oppose federal control of elections, which are currently administered by states, while a slight majority support changing the laws that provide universal, opt-out mail ballots and count post-Election Day ballots, a recent poll found.

The poll conducted last month on behalf of RightCount Nevada — a nonprofit led by former Republican Gov. Robert List and former state Sen. Heidi Seevers Gansert (R-Reno) to restore trust in elections — found some bipartisan support among Nevadans, while other topics, such as trust in mail ballots, drew significant partisanship.

The poll — which was done by The Tarrance Group, a GOP pollster, and revealed exclusively to The Nevada Independent — surveyed 600 people from Feb. 23-26. It has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

President Donald Trump has called to "nationalize" elections, but 80 percent of respondents and 61 percent of Republicans said the federal government should only have a "limited oversight role." The U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the authority to oversee the "Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections," while Congress can pass election-related laws that all states must follow.

Nevadans are more positive about how their state is running elections than they are about how elections are run elsewhere. That sentiment was particularly pronounced among Democrats.

"People's suspicions and worries and concerns are all about the system in general, particularly at the national level, and not at the motives or behavior of election workers and the people who operate and run elections at the state level," Dave Sackett, the founder of The Tarrance Group, said in an interview.

Other partisan divides were more drastic. For example, when asked their greatest worry about elections, Democrats said the deployment of troops to polling places — Trump has said he regrets not using the military to seize voting machines after the 2020 election — while Republicans overwhelmingly said noncitizen voting, which is illegal and has been found to occur only in very miniscule numbers.

Sackett said the GOP concerns about noncitizen voting likely stems from the fact that immigration is a top concern among Republicans, and that sources of information are growing increasingly unreliable.

"They're getting a lot of stuff from Facebook and Twitter … which is where theories that perhaps aren't grounded in reality exist at much higher levels," Sackett said. "If you're exposed to those kinds of messages, those kinds of charges a number of times, of course they're gonna take hold."

Although much of the survey focused on election administration, it also asked respondents to weigh in on the secretary of state's race. The poll found Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) garnering 49 percent of the vote, while a hypothetical opponent Shirley Folkins-Roberts (R) received 47 percent of the vote. The breakdown was largely along party lines, with Aguilar ahead 5 points among independents.

The survey also found that 54 percent of respondents support narrowing the state law that provides mail ballots to all registered voters, unless they opt out. This was split along party lines, with a majority of Republicans (75 percent) instead supporting an opt-in system. A majority of Democrats (65 percent) supported keeping the law as is.

The topic may be on the 2028 ballot. Last year, Nevada Democrats approved a last-minute proposal that would enshrine the existing law, which calls for widely distributing mail ballots, in Nevada's Constitution, making it harder to overturn. If the Legislature approves it in 2027, it would head to voters the following year.

Asked about their level of confidence in various election processes, Republicans were most wary of mail ballots. Eighty-three percent of Republicans said mail ballots open the potential for fraud — although there is no evidence that mail ballots lead to widespread voter fraud — while a slim majority of all respondents said they viewed mail ballots as a secure way to vote.

Although 88 percent of Democrats view mail ballots as a secure way to vote, 34 percent said they would support changing the state's universal mail ballot law.

Sackett said there's a distinction between someone trusting mail ballots and thinking everyone should receive one, whether or not they want it.

"I don't see that as inconsistent," he said. 

Republicans were also wary about ballot drop boxes. Democrats' proposed constitutional amendment would also increase ballot drop box capacity in the days leading up to Election Day, a proposal that state election officials said would allow for quicker ballot counting.

Democrats were overwhelmingly confident in all listed election processes.

Fifty-one percent of respondents expressed support for requiring that all ballots must be received by the closing of polls. Existing law allows voters to drop their ballot into the mail as late as Election Day itself — mail ballots can be counted as many as four days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. Mail ballots with an unclear postmark can be collected up to three days after Election Day.

The U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical Monday about a Mississippi law allowing for post-Election Day ballot acceptance, which could upend Nevada's laws.

Two-thirds of respondents also supported the ballot question to require voter ID, which passed in 2024 by a similar margin but must receive another seal of approval from voters.