Voters discover party affiliation changed to ‘other’ on primary election day

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - Some voters in Washoe County discovered Tuesday that their party affiliation had been changed on their voter registration.

Washoe County provided an update Tuesday afternoon following these reports. Jamie Rodriguez, government affairs manager for the county, said that the issue stems from Nevada’s automatic voter registration.

When you register your car or get a new driver’s license, you now have an automatic voter registration. Rodriguez said if you don’t completely fill out the form, it will default to ‘other’.

“For example, if you are a registered republican, you’ve been a registered republican, and you think ‘I don’t want to make any updates.’ What we’re finding is people are not clicking that they want to continue to be a republican,” Rodriguez said.

The Registrar of Voters receives what appears to be a blank registration. Rodriguez said, in these instances, mailers are sent asking you to update your political party preference. If you do not check the party affiliation you want and send the mailer back, your party affiliation is not updated.

Rodriguez encouraged voters to update their registration at the Secretary of State’s Office website at registertovote.nv.gov.

It is unclear how many voters had this issue.

Stay with KOLO 8 News Now on this developing story.