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Nevada House Speaker Says It's Time to Give the State's Largest Voting Bloc Access to Primaries

Nevada House Speaker Says It's Time to Give the State's Largest Voting Bloc Access to Primaries

Las Vegas, Nevada sign

Photo by Grant Cai on Unsplash.
Shawn Griffiths
By Shawn GriffithsMay 31, 2025
Shawn Griffiths
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LAS VEGAS, NEV. - Nevada’s largest registered voting bloc – unaffiliated voters – could soon gain access to the state’s taxpayer-funded primaries, if a new bill from Democratic Nevada House Speaker Steve Yeager becomes law.

The bill, AB597, was introduced Monday with one week left in the session. It gives registered unaffiliated voters the option to submit an online request for a party's primary ballot no later than 14 days ahead of a primary or during in-person voting.

Unaffiliated voters would be limited to the primary ballot of a single party and the state’s voter registration list would be updated to indicate which party’s ballot a voter selected. Registered party members would still have to vote in their respective party’s primary.

“It’s just time to make sure that nonpartisans and non-affiliated voters can vote in partisan elections,” Yeager said. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while.”

His bill would grant equal access to the public elections process to voters that outnumber Republican and Democratic registration. As of April, roughly 35% of the state’s 2.13 million registered voters did not register with a political party.

Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats each account for 29% of the registered voter population – and yet, only a marginal percentage of these voters decide the candidates that appear on the general election ballot each election cycle.

It is unclear what chance AB597 has at passage. A bill introduced this late in the legislative session by the highest official in the Nevada House could suggest a deal has been made. However, while Yaegar’s party holds significant majorities in the legislature, GOP opposition could still hinder the bill's chances.

Nevada Republican Party Chair Michael McDonald simply said “NOPE” in response to the bill. The state’s governor, Joe Lombardo, is a Republican.

A nonpartisan election system was on the November ballot in Nevada under Question 3. The initiative combined a nonpartisan top five primary open to all candidates and voters, regardless of party, with ranked choice voting in the general election.

While a majority of voters approved it in 2022, a slim majority rejected it in 2024. As the initiative would make changes to the state’s constitution, it required approval in two consecutive elections to become law.

Yeager’s proposal would not give voters such a wide breadth of options in primary elections. However, it would give independent voters access to a critical stage of the public elections process that they are currently denied.

Nevada House Speaker Says It's Time to Give the State's Largest Voting Bloc Access to Primaries was originally published by Independent Voter News and is shared with permission.

Shawn Griffiths Is An Election Reform Expert And National Editor Of IVN.us.

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Read the D.C. Defense of Self-Government Act here

This legislation would require explicit, expedited approval from Congress before federal or state National Guard troops can be deployed into the District. It ensures no president — Republican. Democrat or Independent — can bypass the will of the people of Washington, D.C.

This moment also reminds us of a deeper injustice that has lingered for generations: the people of Washington, D.C., remain without full representation in Congress. Over 700,000 Americans—more than the populations of several states—are denied a voting voice in the very body that holds sway over their lives. This lack of representation makes it easier for their self-government to be undermined, as we see today. That must change. We will need to revisit serious legislation to finally fix this injustice and secure for D.C. residents the same democratic rights every other American enjoys.

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This fight is not about partisan politics. It is about whether America will live up to its founding ideals of self-rule and accountability. Every voter, regardless of party, should ask: if the capital of our democracy can be militarized without the consent of the people, what stops it from happening in other cities across America?

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When I ran for president, my wife told me I was going to make history. I told her making history didn’t matter to me — what mattered to me then and what matters to me now is making a difference. I'm not in office yet so I have no legal authority to act. But, I am still a citizen of the United States, a veteran of the United States Air Force, someone who has taken the oath of office, many times since 1973. That oath has no expiration date. Today, that difference is about ensuring the residents of D.C. — and every American city — are protected from unchecked federal overreach.

I urge every reader to share this bill with your representatives. Demand that Congress act now. We can’t wait until the mid-terms. Demand that they defend democracy where it matters most — in the heart of our capital — because FBI and DEA agents patrolling the streets of our nation's capital does not demonstrate democracy. Quite the contrary, it clearly demonstrates autocracy.

Davenport is a candidate for U.S. Congress, NC-06.
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