2024 Election: what happened with Nevada’s 7 ballot questions

Nevadans voted on seven statewide ballot measures on Tuesday, five of them passed while two failed.

Question 1, which called to remove the constitutional status of the Nevada Board of Regents and provide legislative oversight over public institutions through audits, failed by more than 116,000 votes, receiving 55 percent votes against and 45 percent votes in favor.

Two other ballot questions — Questions 2 and Question 4 — call for amending language in the constitution to change language relating to people with disabilities and to remove language that authorizes the use of slavery as a criminal punishment. Both of those passed with large support. Question 2 received 65.3 percent votes in favor, and Question 4 received 60 percent yes votes.

Question 5, calling to exempt child and adult diapers from taxes, also passed overwhelmingly 68 percent to 32 percent. The initiative will exempt diapers from the state’s sales tax by amending the Sales and Use Tax Act of 1955.

Ranked-choice fails

Question 3, which called to implement ranked-choice voting and an open primary system, failed 45.7 percent to 54.3 percent as of Wednesday.

It was first passed by voters in 2022 by 6 percentage points. If approved, the question would have replaced the current closed-primary system with nonpartisan open primaries and a ranked-choice, general election voting system for statewide, congressional, U.S. Senate and state legislator elections starting in 2026.

The question had been met with opposition by both the Nevada Democratic and Republican parties, which argued it would sow confusion and lead to disenfranchised voters. Proponents said it would have allowed Nevada’s large share of nonpartisan voters to participate in a primary and force candidates to appeal to the more moderate voter.

“We are pleased that Nevada voters have said no to Question 3,” said Emily Persaud-Zamora, executive director of Silver State Voices, a group that heavily opposed the initiative, in a Wednesday statement. “Through our grassroots work, we saw that when we explained Question 3’s proposed policies and their consequences, voters realized that Question 3 was not in their best interests.”

Sondra Cosgrove, who has been a strong proponent of the ballot question, said she obviously wanted it to pass, but it’s not over. She and other proponents of the ballot question hope to put forward a bill in the next legislative session that would create an open primary. She said she had talked with some Democratic leaders who said they would support the proposal if it was only about open primaries instead of ranked-choice voting.

“So we’re going to see who wants to run an open-primary bill in the 2025 Legislature,” Cosgrove said.

Voter ID passes

Question 7, which would require ID to vote and add extra security measures to mail ballots, passed overwhelmingly with 73.7 to 26.3 percent. It still needs to be passed in 2026 for it to go into effect.

The initiative will require voters to show a form of acceptable identification to vote in person during early voting or on Election Day, such as a Nevada driver’s license, a passport, tribal or university ID or another form of government-issued photo ID.

It also will require voters who submit mail-in ballots to verify their identity by providing the last four digits of their Nevada driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when signing their ballot envelope.

“This victory is a powerful message from Nevadans who believe that secure elections and transparent voter identification strengthen our democracy,” said David Gibbs, chairman of Repair the Vote PAC, in a statement. “We thank every voter, volunteer, and advocate who contributed to this historic result. Together, we are paving the way for future legislation that safeguards the integrity of Nevada’s elections and the power of every individual vote.”

Nevadans favor further abortion protections

Ballot Question 6, which would enshrine Nevada’s abortion protections in the state constitution, was passed with overwhelming support, 63.3 percent to 36.7 percent.

The initiative, which also needs to pass again in 2026 because it seeks to amend the constitution, will enshrine Nevada’s abortion rights into the Nevada Constitution. Abortion within 24 weeks of pregnancy is already protected in Nevada through a 1990 voter referendum, and abortion may be performed after 24 weeks if a physician has reasonable cause to believe an abortion is necessary to the health of the pregnant person. The ballot question seeks to place those protections in the state constitution rather than just a state statute.

Lindsey Harmon, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada, said the 2024 election was defined by the fight for abortion rights in a post-Dobbs America. The process for the ballot question was started in 2018, she said during the Democratic watch party at the Aria on Tuesday night, but there’s still more work that needs to be done to get it passed in 2026.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.