The Vote Nevada History and Civics Project is Live!

Vote Nevada Supporters,

The Vote Nevada History and Civics website is live! Some of the pages still need lectures, but the baseline information is now available to learn about our state’s history and civics. You can visit here: https://www.nvcivics.org/

Included are pages for the Personal History and Proposals & Actions projects. We will accept short personal histories from Nevadans to start a We are Nevada archive. Every story is important and every Nevadan deserves to tell his or her story in their own words.

We are also partnering with the WeVote Project to start a dialogue about what our communities want prioritized and addressed in 2027. Please visit the Proposals & Actions page for more information.

Related to this, Vote Nevada is partnering with Hispanics in Politics, the CSN Women’s Alliance, and the CSN Latino Alliance to host a Community Engagement Forum on Saturday, June 27th, from 10 AM to Noon, at the CSN North Las Vegas Campus.

We will have refreshments and activities for the kids, so bring the family. For our two hours together, let’s decide which issues we want candidates for office to take seriously and to focus on during the general election.

The address is 3200 E. Cheyenne Blvd., North Las Vegas, NV 89030, we’ll be in the Main Building in the June Whitley Center. It’s next to the Horn Theater, not the Student Union. Please see the map on the flyer.

All are welcome, so bring some friends and neighbors.

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada is now qualified to receive donations through Smith’s Inspiring Donations; you can read more about how to donate to Vote Nevada each time you use your Smith’s loyalty card here https://www.smithsfoodanddrug.com/i/community/smiths-inspiring-donations

Vote Nevada is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization. Anyone can become a supporter by emailing info@vote-nevada.org; we have no membership dues. You can now donate to Vote Nevada through PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=L423L7FBMMBEA

History and Civics Project Kickoff

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

If you were unable to attend our History and Civics Project kickoff today, here is the recording. Our new website should be up and running by next weekend.

https://vote-nevada.news/HistoryCivicsKickoff

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada Update 5/21/2026

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

Early voting begins this Saturday, May 23^rd. Sample Ballots and mail-in ballots are arriving this week. If you have not received your Sample Ballot yet, you can view your Sample Ballot by clicking on View My Existing Voter Registration here https://registertovote.nv.gov/

When you log in, you will see Sample Ballot along the top menu.

Reminders:

Nevada uses vote centers, so you can vote in-person at any polling location. You can find all polling locations in your Sample Ballot.

There is a new in-person voting process that includes using a tabulation machine. You can see the process in this video: https://www.clarkcountynv.gov/adobe/assets/urn:aaid:aem:38395616-6613-47c8-aeed-948691598808/play

If you are using your mail-in ballot, please be sure to sign the back of the envelope. You can review how to use the mail-in ballot in this video: https://media.clarkcountynv.gov/election/Instructions_for_Voting_by_Mail_-_PPP_2024%5b1%5d%20(4).mp4

You can view your official signature as well as include contact information, in case the Elections Department needs to contact you to “cure” your signature, which means to verify your signature, by logging into Update My Existing Registration here: https://registertovote.nv.gov/

Your signature is on the last page.

Every in-person voting center is also a mail-in ballot drop box location. Simply complete your ballot, place it in the envelope, sign and seal the envelope, and then drive to any vote center. You can find all vote centers in your Sample Ballot.

Walk into the vote center and place your mail-in ballot in the marked drop box. This way you will know that your ballot has been received.

You can track your mail-in ballot here https://www.nvsos.gov/elections/voters/tracking

If you wish to mail-in your ballot, please be sure to send it through the mail as soon as possible to ensure it is received and counted.

If you are registered as a nonpartisan, you will only be allowed to vote in the open primary down ballot races. Voting Nevada is continuing our work to remove this restriction on voting in our great state. We see you.

Grant Announcement

Please join us this Saturday at 9 AM via Zoom for our Nevada History and Civics Project announcement. The support we’ve already received has been enthusiastic. Nevadans support creating a publicly available source of state history and civics education, and community members are already volunteering to participate in the oral history component.

You can RSVP for this Zoom meeting here https://vote-nevada.news/NevadaHistoryCivics

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada Update 5/11/2026

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

If you were unable to attend the soft launch of our Nevada History and Civics Project, you can watch the recording here: https://vote-nevada.news/NevadansForNevada

In a nutshell, Vote Nevada received a grant to create a public history and civics education program.

Nevada has one of the fastest growing populations of voters, especially nonpartisan voters. To ensure every voter can confidently cast a ballot, we must welcome each and every one with virtual hugs and the tools needed to be engaged as Nevadans.

Why did Vote Nevada receive this grant? Vote Nevada is stepping up with hugs and tools.

I am a history professor who specializes in the U.S. West, and I have taught U.S. and Nevada history for twenty-five years, including U.S. and Nevada civics. I have taught online and hybrid classes for twenty-two years, so I understand the methods for delivering virtual lessons. All my course materials are easily transferable, so I will not be starting from scratch.

Ultimately, this project aims to help all voters, but especially those who have newly turned 18, recently moved to Nevada, or who are registered as a nonpartisan. Many voters often need a crash course to understand not only how we manage elections, but also why we’ve adopted unique voting and election rules.

When voters ask me questions, they almost always ask how and then why.

It’s not enough to know Nevada elects its judges, it’s important to also know why we elect judges. It is the history of this election practice that empowers voters to cast a ballot in judicial elections. This history is also needed if you want to propose changes to the process.

I have been actively involved in issue advocacy since 2009 through many different nonpartisan organizations, and I have been the Executive Director of Vote Nevada since 2021. I am familiar with the processes for achieving better outcomes, whether it’s through the legislature, the county commission, the Board of Regents, or the local town advisory board.

This translates into expertise in civic mapping for advocacy.

The Vote Nevada website and blog document this work: https://vote-nevada.org/ https://vote-nevada-blog.org/

In addition to providing a foundation of historical and civics-based information, this project will include space for personal histories submitted by Nevadans, as well as individual pages for each wonderful Nevada city and town. To facilitate these goals, the Nevada History and Civics Project will use interactive online tools to allow anyone to participate.

To assist Nevadans who are problem solvers, Vote Nevada is partnering with a digital democracy platform called WeVote. WeVote increases the project’s civic engagement capacity. Once a voter feels ready to engage in advocacy, WeVote provides the tools to create issue-solving proposals.

Users generated proposals in WeVote can gather community feedback; and if the proposal gains enough support, Vote Nevada will assist with advocacy planning and implementation.

In summary, Vote Nevada received a grant to create a Nevada History and Civics Project to help new and unaffiliated voters, to give Nevadans space to share about our great state, and to facilitate problem solving.

The official launch is on the first day of early voting, May 23, 2026, at 10 AM, via a statewide Zoom webinar. You can RSVP here: https://vote-nevada.news/NevadaHistoryCivics

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Vote Nevada Update 5/7/2026

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

Join us for a Zoom meeting this Saturday, May 9^th, at 9:00 AM to hear about our new voter education and engagement project. The meeting will be recorded to share afterward.

Vote Nevada received a grant to create a public civics education program to empower all Nevadans to be civically engaged. We are calling it our “Nevada belongs to Nevadans” project.

First, we are creating a public Nevada History and Civics platform with historical information about how Nevada became a state and then developed into our home. Included, will be analysis of our state constitution, the organization and operation of state and local government, and an overview of how we manage elections.

Opportunities for Nevadans to contribute personal stories, images, documents, and videos from across our beautiful state will be included.

Second, connected to this education resource will be a civic engagement platform Vote Nevada is partnering with call WeVote. WeVote allows engagers to create proposals for addressing issues, big and small.

Participants will be able to rank proposals using a civics rating scale to gauge viability. The top vote getters will have opportunities to recruit action teams to work on their proposals.

We are not creating a poll or a list of complaints, instead proposals must demonstrate an understanding of a problem, lay out a solution that aligns with our state’s history and rules of governance, and account for any fiscal expenditure, in other words, funding.

Finally, to kick things off statewide, Vote Nevada is hosting a statewide webinar on May 23, 2026, the first day of early voting, to discuss how to make Nevada belong to Nevadans.

To learn more, please RSVP for our May 9^th Zoom meeting at 9 AM:

https://vote-nevada.news/VoterEducationProject

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada is now qualified to receive donations through Smith’s Inspiring Donations; you can read more about how to donate to Vote Nevada each time you use your Smith’s loyalty card here https://www.smithsfoodanddrug.com/i/community/smiths-inspiring-donations

Vote Nevada is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization. Anyone can become a supporter by emailing info@vote-nevada.org; we have no membership dues. You can now donate to Vote Nevada through PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=L423L7FBMMBEA

Vote Nevada Update 4/30/2026

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

Please join the CSN Women’s Alliance on Saturday, May 2nd, any time between 9 and Noon, at the West Charleston Campus, in the Student Union, to chat with nonpartisan candidates. The event is family-friendly with crafts and snacks. (Adults will be required to chat with the candidates before partaking of the crafts and snacks.) 😊

Sample Ballots are arriving for the primary election, except for those nonpartisan voters who do not have any primary races. This happens when no more than two candidates file to run in one of our open primary elections, such as city council, judicial seats, school board, Regents, and sheriff. In these instances, the candidates advance to the general election automatically.

If you are not registered to vote or would like to check your registration, you can do so through your online voter registration account here: https://registertovote.nv.gov/

Lastly, Vote Nevada has received a grant to engage in voter education and engagement, especially among new and nonpartisan voters. So, I will be creating a publicly available online Nevada history and civics course, based on the Saturday Civics classes, and connecting it to a new digital media platform called the WeVote Project that allows participants to respectfully discuss issues we need to address in Nevada. More news about this voter education and engagement initiative will be coming soon.

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada Update 4/4/2026

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

You may have seen Carson City Clerk-Recorder Scott Hoen’s post about how many nonpartisan and third-party voters will not receive a primary election ballot in May. The number of impacted voters is 15,497. That’s thousands of voters.

According to Nevada election laws, our local elections are already open primaries, so races for mayor, city council, sheriff, school board, and Board of Regents, as well as all our judicial races, are currently open primaries.

If only one person files to run for any of these offices, that person is automatically elected. If there are only two candidates, the election proceeds to the general election without a primary vote. And if there are three or more candidates, any candidate who receives 50+1 votes wins the primary.

In Carson City, in the open primary races, all the candidates either won outright or are proceeding directly to the general election. That means if you are registered as a nonpartisan or with a third party in Carson City, you will not receive a primary election ballot. These voters will be hearing about an important election, yet they will not receive a ballot. This will be very confusing.

The typical response to this problem is that these voters can simply join a political party to gain the right to vote in all races. The parties, however, are private organizations that have no constitutional authority to require voters to join a party to participate in taxpayer-funded elections. The parties have no more constitutional standing than the president.

Vote Nevada supports the equal protection clause of the 14^th Amendment and therefore opposes any barrier to voting. All eligible voters must have the right to be treated equally and fairly in all taxpayer-funded elections.

Whether you agree or disagree, please join me tomorrow, Sunday, April 5^th, at 6 PM on the platform WeVote for a discussion of this issue.

You can RSVP here: https://vote-nevada.news/RSVPVotingRights

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization. Anyone can become a supporter by emailing info@vote-nevada.org; we have no membership dues.

You can now donate to Vote Nevada through PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=L423L7FBMMBEA

Vote Nevada Update 3/21/2026

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

We are officially in primary election season, so it’s time to meet the candidates!

A list of most candidates is on the Secretary of State’s website, but you will need to look up candidates for local offices on the individual city elections department webpages.

Here’s the Secretary of State’s spreadsheet: https://www.nvsos.gov/SOSCandidateServices/AnonymousAccess/CEFDSearchUU/CertCandList.aspx

Early voting starts May 23^rd, and election day is June 9^th.

Now is a good time to check your voter registration to ensure your information is up to date. Log in to your online voter registration account here: https://registertovote.nv.gov/

You can also find links to election information on the Secretary of State’s website and your county election offices’ webpages. https://www.nvsos.gov/ and https://www.nvsos.gov/elections/voters/county-clerk-contact-information

Nevada has closed primaries in the top of the ballot races, so the County Commission races up to our congressional delegation, but all municipal and judicial races are open primaries.

Nonpartisans are not allowed to vote in the closed primary races. If you would like to vote in the closed primaries, you must affiliate with one of the political parties.

Vote Nevada is continuing to gather signatures for our Respect Nevada Voters ballot questions. We strongly believe every eligible voter must have the same voting rights in all taxpayer-funded elections. https://vote-nevada-blog.org/voting-rights-ballot-questions-2026/

Our Saturday Civics series just hit episode 10 and will continue through the end of April.

You can view past meeting recordings here https://vote-nevada-blog.org/saturday-civics-recordings/ and RSVP to receive the Zoom link for future meetings here https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/QOJ0I89SRmiSQzXEvuimLg#/registration if you’d like to join us.

We are partnering with the CSN Women’s Alliance to host a local offices candidate forum on May 2^nd, from 9 AM to Noon, at the CSN West Charleston Campus Student Union, 6375 W. Charleston BLVD, Las Vegas, NV 89146.

Candidates can RSVP here:

If you have general questions, such as “How does the filibuster work?”, you can email or text me, see below.

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization. Anyone can become a supporter by emailing info@vote-nevada.org; we have no membership dues.

You can now donate to Vote Nevada through PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=L423L7FBMMBEA

Vote Nevada Update 1/22/2026

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

Reminders:

Tomorrow, the Board of Regents Special Meeting starts at 9:30 am at the NSHE System Office, 4300 South Maryland Parkway, Board Room. The first item is public comment, which allows individuals to speak for 2 minutes on any agenda item. You can speak in person or by phone, and you can submit written comments as well. The tuition increase is Agenda Item #5.

The meeting will livestream from the NSHE homepage: https://nshe.nevada.edu/

The information for calling in and providing written public comments is here https://nshe.nevada.edu/regents/upcoming-meetings/

The staff and institution reports are much more detailed than those from the December meeting. You can view the reports and presentations through the agenda. Go to the meeting agenda and click on the blue hyperlinks under item #5.

https://nshe.nevada.edu/html/wp-content/uploads/file/BoardOfRegents/Agendas/2026/01-jan-mtgs/BOR012326.pdf

You can also listen to my review of the presentations here: https://vote-nevada.news/RegentsJan23Meeting

We kicked off the Saturday Civics series last week. All the meeting recordings will be posted here: https://vote-nevada-blog.org/saturday-civics-recordings/ We reviewed why it’s important to pair history and civics, and how Nevada became a state.

This Saturday, January 24th, 9-10 AM, via Zoom, we will chat about the deal that allowed Nevada to become a state during the Civil War and how that deal included certain stipulations be added to our state constitution. We’ll then read through the document to see what else was added.

If you are interested in joining us, you can register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/QOJ0I89SRmiSQzXEvuimLg#/registration

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada: A Voice for Independent Nevadans

Vote Nevada is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization. Anyone can become a supporter by emailing info@vote-nevada.org. We have no membership dues.

You can now donate to Vote Nevada through PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=L423L7FBMMBEA

Vote Nevada Update 1/11/2026

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Vote Nevada Supporters,

We hosted a very informative meeting with Travis Misurell, from the Future is Now Coalition, on January 10th. It was a great prelude to Doug Goodman’s latest data analysis of Nevada’s voter registration statistics, which came out today.

https://nevadansforelectionreform.wordpress.com/2026/01/11/non-partisan-voter-share-has-largest-year-over-year-gain-since-2000/

If Nevada is going to be an equal rights state, we need equal voting rights, which is why we invited Travis to speak with us about his ideas for digital democracy. You can hear his presentation here: https://vote-nevada.news/MeetTravisMisurell

Speaking of civil rights, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is fast approaching, so I wanted to share information about the parade on January 19th and the associated events.

Here’s the King Week event website: https://kingweeklasvegas.com/

One of the events on Friday, January 16^th,is co-sponsored by Vote Nevada. This is the first Shirley Chisholm Early Learning Symposium.

Many are unaware that Shirley Chisholm began as an early childhood educator before entering elected office. You can attend this event in person or via Zoom.

If you would like to join via Zoom, RSVP here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/FjbPrt9BQ7Onnxop-dBk2w#/registration

On Saturday, January 17th, we are hosting training on how to gather ballot question signatures for Vote Nevada’s three ballot questions. If you are interested, please join us at 8 AM on Saturday via Zoom. You can RSVP here https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/QzRR29ChTfi25Ws9p3FQ_w#/registration

And right after the signature gathering training, we are kicking off the first Vote Nevada Civics and History 101 class.

From 9 to 10 AM each Saturday until May 2nd, you can join us via Zoom to chat about Nevada’s government, elected offices, budget issues, and funding. We will connect the information you need with the offices on your June primary ballot.

RSVP for as many classes as you’d like, here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/QOJ0I89SRmiSQzXEvuimLg#/registration

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada is now qualified to receive donations through Smith’s Inspiring Donations; you can read more about how to donate to Vote Nevada each time you use your Smith’s loyalty card here https://www.smithsfoodanddrug.com/i/community/smiths-inspiring-donations

Vote Nevada is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization. Anyone can become a supporter by emailing info@vote-nevada.org; we have no membership dues. You can now donate to Vote Nevada through PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=L423L7FBMMBEA