LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s Secretary of State’s office is highlighting an MIT report that ranks Nevada second in the country for election efficiency, including security. The Elections Performance Index compares election administration policy performance across the United States.
The ranking comes as cybersecurity remains a concern following a recent Canvas hack that impacted schools in the valley and around the country.
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State’s dramatic improvement
Nevada was ranked 27th in the nation for its administration and efficiency of elections in 2008. Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said the state has made big strides in the management of elections.
“Nevada is a battleground state. Foreign adversaries are very interested in what Nevadans do because what Nevadans do is where the country goes,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar cited the MIT report on voting from 2024.
“And the fact that we went from 13 in ’22 to second in ’24 is really a significant jump. But that was a lot of hard work from the state and the local elections officials to make sure that our new system really did what we needed to do,” Aguilar said.
VREMS modernization
Aguilar said the state has focused on modernization, including the VREMS project. The Voter Registration Election Management System puts in place a centralized statewide voter registration database.
“Prior to this system, the 17 counties were all in their own systems. Some of those systems were no longer being supported by the vendor, which meant they were susceptible to potential cyber-attacks. We have one of the most secure systems now with the greatest technology that exists,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said VREMS can help election officials identify issues quicker.
“It gives me information that I wouldn’t, didn’t have before to say oh, there’s a situation occurring here. Let’s address it now. But also, too, it gives the poll workers real-time information about a certain voter if they’re trying to attempt to manipulate the system,” Aguilar said.
The MIT study looked at factors including voter turnout, registration and absentee ballot problems, rejected registrations and post-election audits, among other things.
Election officials say voters who’ve moved should update their address on their registration, so their mail-in ballot doesn’t go to an old address. Voters should also update their phone number so election officials can contact them if there’s a problem. Voters can go to vote.nv.gov to do that and will find a lot more helpful voting information there.
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