LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar told FOX5 that he is running for reelection to continue work on modernization, innovation and transparency in the office.
“We completely replaced the election system, which has been phenomenal to give us that basic infrastructure to build the transparency,” Aguilar said. “The more transparency we have in government, the more trust you can build with the public in the process.”
Business filing system changes
Aguilar said the office replaced its business filing system, previously called SilverFlume, with a new system called Orion.
“When I took over the office as secretary of state, one out of five transactions was failing in SilverFlume, which I thought was unacceptable,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said after fixing more than a thousand bugs in the previous system, the failure rate dropped to 0.1% and call hold times decreased to three to four minutes.
Aguilar also said the office passed a victims’ restitution fund to compensate victims of investment fraud, which he said is intended to encourage victims, often retirees, to come forward.
Dispute over noncitizen voter list
Asked about a dispute with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over claims that noncitizens are registered to vote in Nevada, Aguilar said his office is waiting for DHS to provide data that can be properly analyzed.
“The information they’ve sent us doesn’t give us the ability to do the analysis that they need us to do,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said DHS sent a worksheet listing about 6,400 people, of which DHS had verified 185. He said the worksheet included a voter case number, the state, a yes-or-no citizenship designation and whether DHS had researched each individual, but did not include names, addresses or birthdates needed to confirm identities.
Aguilar said voter ID numbers were reassigned statewide after Nevada combined 17 county voter systems into one state system ahead of the 2024 election, making it unclear whether the ID numbers DHS used predated that change.
Aguilar said his office reviewed the original voter registration forms for all 185 verified cases and “found that all of them were justified registered voters.” He said his office asked DHS to provide the names, addresses or birthdates connected to the ID numbers and DHS declined in writing.
“We realized that really this was an effort by them just to create chaos within the process and the system so close to the election,” Aguilar said.
Response to Marchant’s election claims
Asked about claims by opponent Jim Marchant that there was wrongdoing or fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections, Aguilar said former Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, “did an incredible job of administering” the 2020 election.
“There’s been no credible evidence that has been presented showing that fraud actually exists,” Aguilar said. “Nevada runs some of the safest, most secure and accessible elections in the country.”
Aguilar cited a ranking by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that he said ranked Nevada’s elections second in the country for security, voter experience and transparency.
Aguilar also described a conversation with a first-time poll worker in Elko during the primary who told him he signed up because he didn’t trust the process but concluded, “We run really good elections,” according to Aguilar.
Deceased voters and third-party mailings
Asked about reports of deceased residents receiving voter registration mailings, Aguilar said some mailings come from third parties using publicly available voter roll data, which he said his office cannot stop due to First Amendment protections.
“If that mailing does not have the official state seal, does not have the official county seal, or has the official elections logo, you should throw it in the trash,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said his office’s system is designed to remove deceased voters from rolls once notified by the state Department of Vital Statistics, but said the office is currently in a 90-day blackout period under the National Voter Registration Act limiting changes to voter rolls, with exceptions for deceased voters. He said counties, not the state, handle that notification process.
Aguilar said family members can also deactivate a deceased relative’s registration through the state’s online portal at vote.nv.gov.
New voting technology and transparency tools
Aguilar said Nevada implemented ballot marking devices statewide for the 2026 election after testing them in two counties in 2024.
“Everybody in Nevada kept saying they wanted an actual physical paper ballot,” Aguilar said. He said the devices allow voters to verify a printed paper ballot before it is placed in a tabulator, reducing the number of flash drives used in the process from as many as 40 or 50 per polling location to as few as two to four.
Aguilar also said the office built a website called Vivid, accessible starting Oct. 12, that shows real-time data on voter participation, including in-person turnout, mail ballots sent and returned, and ballots in rejected or signature-cure status.
Response to Marchant’s policy proposals
Asked about Marchant’s proposals to end universal mail-in voting and require all Nevada voters to re-register, Aguilar said he does not believe Marchant has consulted with the state’s 17 county clerks about the proposals.
“If he spent time with the clerks in understanding how the process worked, they would learn logistically some of this stuff just doesn’t work,” Aguilar said. “It’s also to an additional expense you’re going to put on Nevadans that is unnecessary.”
Aguilar won the 2022 race against Marchant by just over two percentage points. Aguilar said it was his first run for elected office and that he lacked the name recognition Marchant had from previous campaigns.
Priorities in office
Aguilar said his top priorities included replacing the state’s election system and business filing system. He said Nevada has been losing business filing revenue to states including Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, and said Delaware generates about $1 billion annually from business filings compared with Nevada’s roughly $300 million.
“If we can take 5% of Delaware’s market share, that’s $100 million to Nevada,” Aguilar said.
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