Washoe County’s primary election is scheduled for June 14, but election officials today said voters should be aware of several important dates before then – such as the final day to opt-out of receiving a mailed ballot.
Registered voters have through tomorrow, April 15, to opt out of receiving a mailed ballot for the primary election.
Assembly Bill 321, passed during the 2021 legislative session, requires a ballot to be automatically mailed to each registered voter for each election. However, voters can choose not to receive a ballot by mail if they plan to vote in person.
Those who opt-out using the online form at nvsos.gov/votersearch have until 11:59 p.m. on Friday to do so. For people turning in a written opt-out form, they’ll need to get the paperwork to Washoe County’s Registrar of Voters office by 5 p.m. Friday.
Once a voter opts out of receiving a mailed ballot, they’ll stop getting mailed ballots for all future elections unless they move and register in a different county. If the voter decides to opt back in to receiving mailed ballots, they can return to the online form and change their selection.
Mark Wlaschin, the elections deputy in the Secretary of State’s office, said the voting preference form – used to opt out – gives registered voters flexibility to choose how they want to vote.
For example, he said, voters can choose to receive a mailed ballot for primary elections but no mailed ballot for general elections, or vice versa.
People who receive a mailed ballot but choose to vote in person can bring their ballot with them and turn it in to election officials at the polling location.
Other important dates
Regardless of whether a voter uses a mail-in ballot or casts their vote in person, they’ll receive a sample ballot mailed to their address. Those will be mailed the week of May 16.
Official ballots with which to cast a vote will be mailed on May 25. For mailed ballots to be counted in the primary election they need to be postmarked and mailed back to the registrar’s office by June 14.
Washoe County’s Jamie Rodriguez said voters who need to update their registration information ahead of the primary election should get that done by May 17. Otherwise they’ll need to do a same-day registration in person and cast a provisional ballot.
Early voting is scheduled for May 28 – June 10. The county is still finalizing all of the early voting locations but plans to release information soon.
Primary election day is June 14.
A full election timeline is available at https://www.washoecounty.gov/voters/elections/index.php.
Registration corrections
Washoe County’s Jamie Rodriguez said keeping the voter registration rolls updated is a priority for the Registrar of Voters office. One of the ways they do this is by mailing postcards to a voter’s address.
She said that residents who receive mail from the Registrar of Voters office that isn’t meant for them or anyone else who lives at the residence, should return it to the registrar’s office so the voter rolls can be updated.
If the county doesn’t get notified of corrections, they can’t make updates to their system, she said.
Races and challenges
Washoe County has what’s called a closed primary, meaning that members of the two major parties – Democrats and Republicans – get to vote on which candidates they want to send forward for the general election in November.
That means that only voters registered as either Republican or Democrat will be able to vote in some of the primary races, and only for candidates in their party.
Nonpartisan ballots will be provided to voters who are not registered in either of the two major parties.
Voters won’t see any ballot questions in the primary election either. Those issues are saved for the general election in November.
All of the candidates on the ballot for the primary election are listed on Washoe County’s website along with their profile information, if submitted. That can be found at https://www.washoecounty.gov/voters/elections/candidates/index.php.
Rodriguez said there are challenges in three of the races currently pending in court: a Democratic challenge in the Attorney General’s race, a Republican challenge in District 2 for Washoe County Commission and one in the Reno Mayoral race which is nonpartisan.
