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This week, the Nevada Assembly passed AJR6, to place the National Popular Vote interstate compact (NPV) in the Nevada Constitution. All Democrats present voted for the resolution; all Republicans voted against it. The measure is unusual—no state has put NPV in its constitution, nor does the compact language fit within a state’s fundamental law.

The Assembly’s action is purely about politics. The state's amendment process avoids any involvement by the governor. The current Republican governor, like the previous Democratic governor, opposes NPV. In 2019, former Gov. Steve Sisolak vetoed an NPV bill, warning the compact "could diminish the role of smaller states like Nevada in national electoral contests and force Nevada’s electors to side with whoever wins the nationwide popular vote, rather than the candidate Nevadans choose.”

Right now, Nevada has its own unique voice in presidential politics. But with NPV, other states would control Nevada’s electoral votes. Los Angeles County has more than three times the population of the entire state of Nevada. Even a candidate not on the ballot in Nevada could, under the NPV compact, receive all of Nevada’s electoral votes.

AJR6 now moves to the Nevada Senate, which has until late May to pass it. If it does, the bill must pass both chambers again in 2025, and it would then go to voters in 2026.