Nevada governor signs law to automatically send mail ballots

Updated: Jun 11, 2021 / 07:16 PM CDT

NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 20: A Clark County election worker scans mail-in ballots at the Clark County Election Department on October 20, 2020 in North Las Vegas, Nevada. In-person early voting for the general election in the battleground state began on October 17 and continues through October 30. Earlier this year, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed a bill mandating that all registered voters in the state receive a mail-in ballot for the first time to help keep people safe from the coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed into law Friday a measure requiring mail-in ballots to be automatically sent to active voters in future elections.

The new law indefinitely extends policies that the Democratic governor approved last year amid the pandemic.

Sisolak signed the bill at a ceremony in Las Vegas on Friday with Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, a Democrat who pushed for the change.

The measure also aims to improve Nevada’s voter roll maintenance and signature verification procedures. It requires vote counters complete a forensic signature verification course. It also directs election officials to compare their list of registered voters to Nevada’s Registrar of Vital Statistics on a monthly basis to purge dead people from voter rolls.