Can This Grassroot Group’s Ballot-Chasing Efforts Help Turn Nevada Red This November?

As America hurtles toward another high-stake presidential election, Nevada is shaping up to be a closely watched battleground state likely to determine which party wins the White House this November.

While considered to be more Democrat-friendly since Barack Obama’s 2008 victory, the Silver State has slowly shed its blue hue for a purple one in recent years. President Joe Biden, for example, won Nevada by less than 34,000 votes during the 2020 election. The state’s 2022 elections produced even slimmer margins, in which Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and now-Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo won their races by 7,928 and 15,386 votes, respectively.

In a state where residents on the “active” voter registration lists are automatically mailed a ballot every election cycle, ballot-chasing operations will undoubtedly be paramount in determining the fate of numerous races and state constitutional amendment proposals.

Ballot chasing is a process that often involves third parties regularly engaging potential voters throughout a given cycle, with the ultimate goal of getting that voter to cast his ballot in the primary and general elections. In states such as Nevada, these third parties may also “harvest” or deliver a voter’s ballot if that voter authorizes them to do so.

While used by Democrats in recent years to win close elections, one group is hoping its ballot-chasing efforts are enough to push Republicans and conservative priorities over the finish line.

Known as the Sun City Summerlin Conservatives Club (SCSCC), the grassroots organization is seeking to give Democrats’ election machine a run for its money by getting the ballots of conservative-leaning voters into ballot boxes this year.

“We’re going to make a super push to get Donald Trump … and all of our Republican candidates elected,” SCSCC President Jeff DiPane told The Federalist.

Ballot Chasing

While undertaking limited get-out-the-vote activities during the 2022 midterms, the SCSCC’s ballot-chasing operations took off in the years following those elections.

Based out of Sun City Summerlin, a 55-and-older neighborhood located less than 20 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, the group’s operations extend throughout Nevada’s most populous locality, Clark County. The organization — which has assisted the Pigpen Project on efforts to clean Nevada’s voter rolls — is comprised of Sun City residents and primarily targets low-propensity GOP voters in the community and neighboring areas.

DiPane explained that having local volunteers lead the SCSCC’s ballot-chasing efforts allows the organization to form relationships with these prospective voters.

“It’s [all about] touch points. They know that we live where they live, we have a pretty good reputation as a group, and we have friendly people,” DiPane said. “We leave literature at their houses if they’re not home, and that sort of thing. We phone them … [and] try to be there all year round.”

The group also hosts neighborhood open house-style events where locals can learn about issues and candidates, and ask questions about the political process.

The SCSCC president noted how this strategy permits the organization to build trust with these low-propensity voters, who come to view SCSCC volunteers as credible sources of information about candidates, issues, and the electoral process. That trust is also vital for the organization’s ultimate goal of getting these voters to submit their ballots during elections.

According to DiPane, SCSCC volunteers offer to give rides to predominantly elderly electors who are unable to drive to the polls. They also offer to submit voters’ completed ballots if authorized by the voter to do so.

Citing potential problems caused by the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery system, DiPane encouraged Nevada voters to submit their mail-in ballots in person or designate a trusted individual to deliver it on their behalf rather than return it via the postal service. An issue arose during Utah’s recent primary elections, for example, in which mail-in ballots from the state’s southern counties were purportedly rerouted to USPS’s Las Vegas distribution center for processing. The incident allegedly disenfranchised more than 1,000 voters and potentially altered the outcome of a GOP congressional primary.

What we’re telling voters [is] “rather than mail [your ballot] in, we’ll drop it off at the polling center, or we’ll drive you there,” DiPane said, expressing concern that mail originating from the northern part of the state could be rerouted to USPS’s processing center in neighboring California before landing back in Nevada.

When pressed on whether mail in Northern Nevada is rerouted through the agency’s distribution center in Sacramento, California, USPS spokesman John Hyatt told The Federalist that while he “cannot speak for every piece of mail,” the agency has “not changed how mail is processed out of Northern Nevada at the Reno [Processing & Distribution Center].”

“Local mail is, and will continue to be, a two-to-three-day delivery product,” Hyatt said.

Protecting Nevada’s Constitution

The SCSCC’s ballot-chasing efforts are just one part of its operations, however.

DiPane said the group is aiming to educate voters about several constitutional amendment proposals on the state’s 2024 ballot. Central to the organization’s messaging campaign is an initiative seeking to enshrine voter ID requirements in the Nevada Constitution.

Approved for ballot access earlier this year, the Nevada Voter Identification Initiative would require eligible voters to present a valid form of photo ID when voting in person. Those voting by mail would “have to verify their identity using the last four digits of their driver’s license or social security number or the number provided by the county clerk when the voter is registered to vote,” according to Ballotpedia.

DiPane said the SCSCC assisted the amendment’s sponsors in collecting enough signatures to get it on the November ballot. These efforts, he explained, helped the group further strengthen its ballot-chasing operations by providing more opportunities to engage with prospective voters in the Sun City Summerlin community and Las Vegas area.

“We went to Trump rallies, we went to gun stores, we went to any kind of conservative event, and we [got voters’] signatures,” he said. “It just shows the success grassroots can have when people get involved.”

While much of the SCSCC’s amendment-related work has been devoted to collecting signatures for the voter ID initiative, DiPane said the group is now shifting its focus toward encouraging voters to approve the measure and informing voters about another constitutional amendment proposal that seeks to mandate ranked-choice voting (RCV) in elections.

Referred to as the Top-Five Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative, the proposal would create “open primary elections [for voters] to choose candidates for the general election,” at which point “all voters may then rank the remaining candidates by preference.” The amendment would require the disastrous system — which Democrats have weaponized to flip traditionally Republican-held seats — to be used for congressional, gubernatorial, statewide executive, and state legislative races. RCV has reportedly produced inaccurate election results and high rates of discarded ballots in jurisdictions where it’s been used.

The SCSCC is in the process of crafting informational materials to distribute to voters warning them of RCV’s nefarious track record. According to DiPane, using Alaska’s RCV-run elections as an example of how the system empowers Democrats in Republican strongholds appears to be an effective messaging tool in convincing voters to oppose the amendment.

“Ranked-choice voting is so complicated [and] very hard to understand for a lot of people,” DiPane explained. “So, we’re trying to simplify it … [and] will be actively [campaigning against that measure] hand in hand with our voter ID [advocacy].”

In Nevada, constitutional amendment proposals produced by citizen-led signature collection campaigns must be passed by voters in two consecutive general elections to amend the state’s founding document. This year’s election will be the voter ID initiative’s first appearance on the ballot, while the pro-RCV initiative was approved by voters during the state’s 2022 midterm elections.

Leaving Nothing on the Table

While crediting SCSCC volunteers for their hard work and dedication, DiPane underscored the importance of citizen activism and encouraged his fellow Americans to get off the sidelines to make a difference in their own communities.

“I want people to know that your vote counts [and] that you can make things happen,” he said. “Everyone thought this voter ID [initiative] would never happen. But it did happen because people got involved.”

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Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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