Should Nevada elections be overhauled? Here's what GOP secretary of state hopefuls say.

The Republican primary for Nevada secretary of state is the biggest test in years of what changes GOP voters want for the state's election system.

The race features a well-funded political newcomer who has questioned the trust, but not the security, of elections, squaring off against a trio of repeat candidates who have all made unsubstantiated and conspiratorial claims of mass voter fraud.

The results will show to what degree Republican primary voters want to see changes to the state's election system. Do they support more modest changes, such as changing who automatically receives a mail ballot, or more drastic steps, such as stopping the use of election machines and cooperating with federal efforts to verify voter eligibility?

The political newcomer, Northern Nevada businesswoman Shirley Folkins-Roberts, is backed by Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) and has a significant fundraising advantage. She launched the first ad of the race on Tuesday.

She's facing three perennial candidates: Former Assm. Sharron Angle; former Assm. Jim Marchant, who was the GOP nominee for secretary of state four years ago; and Socorro Keenan, who is running in her third consecutive election cycle.

Angle and Keenan did not respond to The Indy's requests for an interview.

The winner of the June 9 primary will face incumbent Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D), who advanced to the general election after facing no primary opponents. Aguilar has a commanding fundraising advantage so far over the Republican candidates.

The winner of the general election will play a pivotal role in shaping Nevada elections for the next four years. Voter ID requirements will likely begin in 2028 — voters need to support it on this year's ballot after overwhelmingly doing so two years ago — and the state is facing unprecedented levels of federal efforts to interfere in elections, which the Constitution says are the responsibility of the states. 

The secretary of state is also responsible for the state's business licensing system. A new filing system is set to go live this summer.

Read more below about the candidates' backgrounds and where they stand on key issues.

Who are the candidates?

Folkins-Roberts, 61, has spent more than a decade working at a commercial real estate company. She also co-founded a nonprofit for children fighting cancer.

She became acquainted with Lombardo two years ago when he approached her to serve on the board of the Nevada Strategic Growth Initiative, a Lombardo-founded nonprofit focused on economic development. Lombardo's team eventually encouraged her to run for secretary of state.

She raised about $100,000 in the first three months of 2026, but $22,000 of that was a loan from herself.

Angle, 76, is second in money raised, bringing in about $15,000 from January through March.

She has criticized Folkins-Roberts for previously giving money to Democrats, including Reno City Councilmember Devon Reese and Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill. She also falsely accused Folkins-Roberts' husband of donating to Attorney General Aaron Ford (D), leading to a demand letter filed by Folkins-Roberts' attorneys and an eventual apology from Angle.

Angle previously served eight years in the Nevada Assembly and has run for Congress four times, including her notable 2010 bid for U.S. Senate when she lost in the general election to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). She also lost a primary for a Northern Nevada state Senate seat in 2024.

Marchant, a 69-year-old former technology company executive, is also a perennial candidate. The former Las Vegas assemblymember has run in every election cycle in the past decade, including two bids for Congress. He lost the 2022 secretary of state general election by about 23,000 votes.

Keenan, 69, also ran in the 2022 race for secretary of state, finishing seventh in the Republican primary. She has held myriad jobs, including a flight attendant, grant writer and talent agency owner, according to her website.

Neither Marchant nor Keenan raised any money in the first three months of 2026. Marchant said he was planning to self-fund his campaign but does not know to what degree.

"I don't know," he said. "Just whatever it takes."

Fraud or no fraud?

Folkins-Roberts is the only candidate in the race who does not believe in widespread voter fraud.

"I don't know that security is the issue. I think there's confusion, there's lack of confidence," she said. "I am not alleging fraud in any way, shape or form."

That couldn't be more different from her opponents.

In 2020, Angle backed a group seeking to block certification of the state's election results because of claims of widespread voter fraud. 

"Fraud threatens the legitimacy of elections, breeds mistrust, and fuels political polarization," Angle said in a blog post last year. "We can't stop election crimes if we refuse to admit it's happening or are lenient on the punishments."

Since 2020, the secretary of state's office has referred 42 potential violations of Nevada election law for potential prosecution.

Meanwhile, Marchant said he has not trusted any Nevada election results for the past 20 years and that he wouldn't even trust the election results if he wins this year. Keenan has also pushed unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, including that about 4,000 non-citizens illegally voted in the 2020 election.

Recently, the FBI closed an investigation into non-citizen voting in 2020 after it found evidence of only 38 potential non-citizens voting. More than 1.3 million ballots were cast in the 2020 election.

A poll earlier this year, conducted on behalf of a group of former GOP officials, found 25 percent of Republicans in Nevada expect widespread errors in this year's elections, compared with 44 percent who said the 2020 results were fraudulent.

Policy priorities

Folkins-Roberts wants to stop accepting mail ballots after Election Day, which Nevada allows for up to four days as long as it is postmarked by or before the date of the election. In Nevada's 2024 general election, about 11,900 votes were received and counted after Election Day in Clark and Washoe counties, making up less than 1 percent of all ballots cast.

The poll from earlier this year found 85 percent of Republicans in Nevada support ending the post-Election Day receipt of postmarked mail ballots.

Similar to other candidates, Folkins-Roberts also wants to change who gets a mail ballot. Under Nevada law, all registered voters receive a mail ballot unless they opt-out, but GOP candidates want the system to be opt-in instead — something 75 percent of Republicans supported earlier this year, according to the poll.

"I think a lot of people are confused by the fact that we all get a mail ballot," she said. "We don't ask for that, and I think we need to make that change."

She also wants to implement voter ID, as do the other candidates. 

But their other proposals are far more drastic.

Marchant's main priority would be to unregister, then reregister all voters in Nevada, including using biometrics to verify people's identities.

"Fingerprint or scan your pupils, or there's new technology that actually … can detect your heartbeat, and everybody's heartbeat is unique, so there's a way to identify somebody," he said.

He also wants to eliminate all voting machines, transition to paper ballots only and hand count all ballots. Marchant worked with Nye County officials in 2022 on a plan to hand count all ballots, but it was blocked in court.

"Some of these [voting] machines have hidden chips on them," he said. "I've discovered that."

Voting machines are not connected to the internet, and there is no proof of irregularities. 

Angle, meanwhile, wants to repeal the state's automatic voter registration program and "ensure that Nevada's Constitutional Election Day is followed for on-time results," she told the Reno Gazette-Journal. She also supports the SAVE Act, a bill in Congress that would mandate proof of citizenship to register to vote, eliminate mail-only registration and require voters to present photo ID before casting ballots

And in addition to voter ID, Keenan says on her website that she wants to conduct a forensic audit of the secretary of state's office "so that acts of malfeasance by the current SOS will not be inherited."

Cooperation with the feds?

The Trump administration has sought to verify voter eligibility by asking states to provide lists of  driver licenses and partial Social Security numbers. Nevada declined to provide this information and is facing a lawsuit.

Angle has supported the request.

"Nevada needs a Secretary of State who will implement and enforce the provisions of this Executive Order in Nevada," she said in a blog post.

The poll from earlier this year found 36 percent of Nevada Republicans think the federal government should be the ultimate decision-makers on elections.

Folkins-Roberts did not directly answer whether she would have handed over that information.

"I think the efforts are admirable," she said. "However, it ultimately falls to the states, and voting is a state matter."

Keenan and Marchant have not said whether they support the Trump administration's efforts.