It is National Voter Education Week, and one Nevada organization wants to ensure every Nevadan can vote in the upcoming elections.

A nonpartisan campaign aims to "bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot."

Noé Orosco, program manager for the group Silver State Voices, said each day of the week will focus on a specific call to action which his organization and other community partners are aiming to what he calls 'Nevada-fy.' He explained while some states require fees or the completion of parole to have voting rights restored, Nevada does not.

"Since 2020, we have been engaging our formerly incarcerated communities and letting them know that their rights have been restored," Orosco explained. "That is one of the ways that we are 'Nevada-fying,' this week of action to really being very intentional in the fact that Nevada was one of the first few states to restore the right to vote."

Orosco said Tuesday's focus is all about requesting your mail-in ballot. He called it another point making Nevada unique. In 2021, Nevada passed legislation to automatically send registered voters a mail-in ballot.

Orosco emphasized it is important for those using mail-in ballots in upcoming elections to remember to sign it. Regardless of how you vote, he encouraged everyone to make a plan before Election Day.

Orosco stressed it is also paramount to educate yourself on the candidates and the issues impacting Nevada. Silver State Voices has partnered with the Institute for a Progressive Nevada to create a nonpartisan voter guide called VoteSmartNV.org. Orosco said the guide lists each candidate for each major office and includes candidates' responses, in their own words, to a number of standardized questions touching on various topics and does so in multiple languages.

Orosco added Nevada is diverse, and it is something everyone should be paying attention to.

"Don't just ignore, not just the Latino community, but any other ethnic community because you're assuming that they are going to be voting a specific way for a specific candidate for a specific party," Orosco pointed out. "That is simply just not the case."

The last day of the week is dedicated to increasing civic engagement. Orosco said it can be achieved in many ways, from becoming a county poll worker to sending a register-to-vote link to family and friends.

The League of Women Voters of Florida is taking a personal approach to restoring voting rights for returning citizens.

The group is sending thousands of handwritten postcards to people with felony convictions, many of whom are unaware they may already be eligible to vote. The postcard initiative is part of a broader effort to ensure people know their rights and have the legal support they need to navigate Florida's complex voting restoration process.

Cecile Scoon, copresident of the League of Women Voters of Florida, described the importance of direct outreach to returning citizens and said the postcard campaign has made a significant impact.

"I have personally looked at people's records and they were not voting for over 10 to 20 years, but they didn't know that their felony charge was dropped to a misdemeanor," Scoon outlined. "So, 'I never filed a court paper.' I just read their records and that person was voting, like, within a week -- crying, excited."

The League's efforts began with Florida's 2018 passage of Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to most people with felony convictions. However, added fines and fees requirements created barriers, and while the state introduced a process to verify voter eligibility, advocates said it remains too complex and confusing for many returning citizens.

Scoon highlighted the challenges posed by the state's requirement, emphasizing incomplete or missing records often prevent people from proving they have paid their fines and fees.

"We proved that many of the records were lost, but the government was saying, 'You have to show me that you paid it.' If someone diligently looked for their records, 20 or 30% can't find them all," Scoon explained. "So, how are you going to prove you paid something, then there's no record, or they paid, and the probation office moved and didn't keep the record?"

She noted the League is advocating for legislative reforms to simplify voter eligibility verification. Despite challenges, like returned postcards due to the transient nature of returning citizens, Scoon pointed out they have managed to reach 5,000 people with felony convictions and yielded positive results.

She added anyone who needs assistance from the League's pro bono attorneys can call 407-710-5496 or email canivote@lwvfl.org.

Arkansas lawmakers are at the Capitol today for the start of the 95th Legislative session. Over the next 88 days, legislators will discuss more than 2,000 bills that have been filed since November.

University of Arkansas Political Science Professor Andrew Dowdle said legislators will also attempt to implement bills passed during the first term of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

"Part of that is the Learns Act, where about half of all new state spending is going to private school vouchers," said Dowdle. "There was also an Arkansas Forward report to try to find savings in state government."

He said the report includes measures to slash $300 millions from the state's budget in six years, and a plan to pay state workers more competitive salaries.

One of Sanders' more controversial plans is to build a new 3,000-bed prison in Charleston, in Franklin County. Dowdle said the proposal has received pushback from residents in the area.

"Nobody seems to want a prison in their own neighborhood," said Dowdle. "You usually end up finding more support for prisons in rural areas at times where you end up having higher times of unemployment, and I don't think Charleston would really see itself in that light."

State Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, has filed a draft bill opposing the new prison.

His proposal addresses reducing overcrowding in county jails by investing in new construction, expansions, or renovations in jails with the highest prisoner backlog.


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The Wyoming Legislature's General Session starts Tuesday and voting-rights advocates in the state are watching several proposals they worry could hinder people's ability to vote.

Bills under consideration would prohibit the use of drop boxes to deliver completed ballots, reduce the accessibility of absentee ballot request forms and change the proof-of-residency rules for voter registration.

Marissa Carpio, policy director for the Equality State Policy Center, said the bills are priorities for the Freedom Caucus, a Republican faction that now has a majority lead in the House.

"They coin it as 'election integrity' bills to clean up what they perceive as voter fraud," Carpio explained. "Let me be clear, there are no widespread instances of voter fraud in Wyoming."

Carpio pointed out the bills would disproportionately affect elderly, rural and Native voters.

According to the Heritage Foundation, there have been four cases of election fraud in Wyoming in the last 23 years, including three people who registered with incorrect addresses and one convicted felon who cast a ballot.

Carpio argued the state's election organizers should get credit for their success.

"We have county clerks across the state that are so dedicated to the process of our election," Carpio pointed out. "They're real, hardworking people out there that deserve recognition for the fact that our elections run so well. And the upheaval of these processes could really hurt."

The Freedom Caucus has listed "election integrity" legislation first on its "five and dime plan," which details the five pieces of legislation it aims to pass in the first 10 days of the session, according to its website.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.