Nevadans For Secure Elections (NFSE) was a ballot measure committee formed by left-of-center operatives to promote and pass the successful Nevada Question 5, which authorizes registration of voters by Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The proposition was put onto the ballot after a similar measure was vetoed by then-Governor Brian Sandoval (R-NV) in 2017. 1
Its leadership and funders are well established Democratic Party insiders and major fundraisers for Democratic candidates and issues. Rebecca Lambe, a longtime aide and operative for former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Ellen Kurtz of iVote led the campaign with spending targeted by Matt Griffin, a lobbyist and public affairs specialist.
Organization
Nevadans For Secure Elections was formed to promote Nevada Question 5, authorizing automatic voter registration at Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles, in the 2018 election.
Matt Griffin formed and was the registered agent of NFSE after the proposition qualified for the November 2018 ballot. 2
Backed by left-of-center organizations including Sixteen Thirty Fund, Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action, iVote and the ACLU, Nevadans For Secure Elections promoted proposition 5 and secured its passage. 3
The ACLU contributed $1.15 million to NFSE as well as funding canvassers to knock on doors as part of a $10 million budget in support of left-progressive voting measures in multiple states. 4
The organization is still registered in Nevada, yet its website has been taken down and its Facebook and Twitter pages have been inactive since the beginning of 2019. 2 5 6
Leadership
Ellen Kurtz was president of Nevadans for Secure Elections and is president of iVote, a left-of-center PAC focused on enacting automatic voter registration broadly with short-term activity in states with Republican Secretaries of State. 7
Rebecca Lambe, the committee treasurer, was campaign manager for then-U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s 2010 successful re-election to the U.S. Senate from Nevada. Previously she had served as executive director of the Democratic Party of Nevada. She founded Senate Majority PAC and worked to protect the Democratic majority in the Senate in 2012. Senate Majority PAC spent $165.6 million in the 2018 election cycle with $20.0 million coming from Democratic presidential primary candidate Michael Bloomberg. 8 9 10
Matt Griffin is a partner at the Griffin Company, a public affairs consulting and law firm, and at Bullpen, a political consulting firm that advocates with political influencers. He was the registered agent of Nevadans for Secure Elections and has spoken broadly on the committee’s behalf. Currently he is engaged by Everytown for Gun Safety, a prominent gun control organization. 11 12 13 14
Funding
A total of $9,623,575 was raised to support efforts of Nevadans For Secure Elections with, over $7.5 million coming from California-based or Washington, D.C.-based sources. 15
- America Votes (DC) $ 175,000
- Sixteen Thirty Fund (DC) $6,250,000
- George Marcus (CA) $1,000,000
- ACLU $1,150,000
- iVOTE Fund $ 500,000
- Grove Action Fund(CA) $ 25,000
- Nextgen Climate Action (CA) $ 100,000
- SEIU UHW West (CA) $ 100,000
- The (Tides) Advocacy Fund (CA) $ 10,000
- Green Advocacy Project (CA) $ 100,000
- James Murdoch $ 200,000
Spending
Nevadans for Secure Elections had income from contributions and grants of $9,749,940 in 2018 and expenses of the entire amount. 16
The committee spent $7,411,105 on media purchases and a further $1,039,764 on creative development of ads. The ACLU of Las Vegas received $150,000 for media publication. 17
References
- Velotta, Richard N. “Nevadans Lean towards Automatic Voter Registration.” Journal. Las Vegas Review-Journal, November 2018. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/nevadans-lean-towards-automatic-voter-registration-1521117/.
- “Nevada ESOS.” Accessed May 29, 2020. https://esos.nv.gov/EntitySearch/OnlineConversion?categoryID=Conversion.
- [1] Office of the Nevada Secretary of State. NV Secretary of State Campaign Reporting. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://www.nvsos.gov/SOSCandidateServices/AnonymousAccess/ViewCCEReport.aspx?syn=IGmSYfpj68VdY%2B670JIzdQ%3D%3D.
- “ACLU Backs Question 5 Campaign To Implement Automatic Voter Registration.” American Civil Liberties Union. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-backs-question-5-campaign-implement-automatic-voter-registration.
- “Nevadans for Secure Elections.” Facebook. Accessed May 29, 2020. 2019. https://www.facebook.com/pg/NVSecureElections/posts/?ref=page_internal.
- iVote. “Nevadans for Secure Elections – Twitter Search.” Twitter. Twitter, August 5, 2016. https://twitter.com/search?q=nevadans+for+secure+elections.
- “What If Everyone Voted?” iVote. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://www.ivoteforamerica.org/about.
- FactCheck.org. “Senate Majority PAC.” FactCheck.org, February 19, 2020. https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/senate-majority-pac-4/.
- “Rebecca Lambe.” Ballotpedia. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://ballotpedia.org/Rebecca_Lambe.
- Schwartz, David McGrath. “Rebecca Lambe: The Force behind State Democrats’ Success.” Las Vegas Sun, August 9, 2009. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2009/aug/09/rebecca-lambe-force-behind-state-democrats-success/.
- “World Class Innovation Consulting Services.” Bullpen Strategies. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://bullpeninc.com/.
- “Griffin Company.” G3. Accessed May 29, 2020. http://g3nv.com.
- “Ballot Question 5 – Automatic Voter Registration.” Nevada Public Radio. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://knpr.org/knpr/2018-10/ballot-question-5-automatic-voter-registration.
- “Who We Are.” Everytown for Gun Safety. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://everytown.org/who-we-are/.
- Office of the Nevada Secretary of State. NV Secretary of State Campaign Reporting. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://www.nvsos.gov/SOSCandidateServices/AnonymousAccess/ViewCCEReport.aspx?syn=IGmSYfpj68VdY%2B670JIzdQ%3D%3D.
- “Nevadans for Secure Elections”. Return of Organization Exempt From Tax (Form 990). 2018. Part I, Lines 12, 18.
- “Nevadans for Secure Elections”. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2018. Part VII, Section B.