Verification of a Political Candidate’s Qualifications
How is the verification of a political candidate’s qualifications done at the Washoe County Registrar of Voters Office?
Before moving on to explain how the verification of a political candidate’s qualifications is handled at the Washoe County Registrar of Voters, you have to know its limitations. The Washoe County Registrar does not handle filings for people running for the following offices:
- State Level offices (Governor, Lt. Governor, etc.)
- Federal Level offices (US Senate and US House of Representatives
- Offices that represent more than one county
Second, the Registrar of Voters has no authority to deny ANYONE the right to file to run for office. The office does no official verifications that could deny anyone the right to be a candidate.
Here is what I learned about the process from the Washoe County Registrar of Voters, Jaime Rodriguez:
- Identity-the prospective candidates is either located on the voter rolls or must present a Driver’s License or other ID.
2. Citizenship-per the voter roll, but if not registered to vote, I’m not sure how this is done. A Dec. 22, 2022 article by Mark Robison of the Reno Gazette-Journal had this to say:
“Question: Can noncitizens in the country legally register to vote in Washoe County by lying on their application form? Short answer: Yes, it is possible. Although it’s unlikely to be detected, it is not a simple process. Noncitizens in the country legally can get a Nevada driver’s license. This would allow them to fill out a voter application form. If they lied about their citizenship status on the form, they could then illegally vote, putting their legal residence status in jeopardy and opening them to felony charges. Washoe County knows of no instances of this happening, and national research shows that fraudulent votes by noncitizens is statistically zero.”
As you can see, it appears that if the Registrar of Voters depends on the voter rolls to verify citizenship, it is possible that a non-citizen could file to run for office. And since noncitizens can get a driver’s license in Nevada, a driver’s license is no indication of citizenship.
“Please note that individuals who are not citizens are eligible for drivers cards, as such they should not be given a voter registration form, however if one is provided by accident then yes, it is the responsibility of that individual to note that they are not an eligible voter as they are not a citizen.” Jamie Rodriguez
3. Residency in the proper district-if the person is shown not to live in the correct district, this is called to their attention. But again, the Registrar of Voters has no right to deny right of anyone to file to run for office.
“We do confirm with the individual if they reside within the jurisdiction of the office they are filing for, this is to ensure that the individual is aware that they are not eligible to run for that office, however, we cannot deny their declaration for candidacy.” Jamie Rodriguez
4. Length of residency-not verified
5. Education level-not verified
6. Criminal record-not verified
7. Eligibility to vote (qualified elector)-if the person is not on the voter rolls and claims they have voting rights,(even if they don’t) they may file. “They must provide the documentation needed to register to vote in order to show their eligibility for office. There is also a process set forth in NRS 293.182 for candidates to be challenged if there is a belief that the individual is not qualified to run for that office.” Jamie Rodriguez
More on verification of a political candidate’s qualifications
Our Background Check FAQs provide more explanation of the verification process-or more accurately, the lack of one. Click here to learn more.
