The Washoe County Registrar of Voters says some big changes have been made after concerned voters expressed concerns about ballot counting transparency.
From security adjustments to additional visibility for observers, you should expect some adjustments in next month's primary.
Cari-Ann Burgess, the Interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County said changes came after the Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar paid a visit.
"I heard a lot of concerns right before the PPP," sha said. "I couldn't change anything before that election, but we have done a lot since that election to make sure those concerns that they had, that they are able to process those and we're able to change and that's what we've done ."
Burgess adds that the process change was necessary because now they're bigger with more voters.
“When we are updating our processes it goes on our population in 1998," she said. "We had 100,000 people. We have over 350,000 registered voters now, that’s a lot of mail.”
Today an election specialist walked us through the changes to the area:
- In the observer section they took out a half wall on the top, replacing it with full glass all around.
- All shelving and extra supplies are now gone.
- They took everything that was in their cage, judication, duplication and scanning stations are now on the floor.
- They rearranged the cameras so every inch of the area including in the back is in view.
- As for security concerns, they also added law enforcement onsite and virtual security through all of their systems.
Andrew McDonald, the Deputy Registrar Washoe County also spoke on the security upgrades.
"We definitely have doors locked, badge access only, key access only to very few limited staff,” he said, adding they want to be transparent, but also secure. “We are trying to be as transparent as possible as everybody now is getting a mail ballot in the mail unless they requested not to have one and go to the polls. All those ballots coming in, that’s a lot.”
McDonald also says being an observer is by invite only if in person.
“They have to come sign in and they let in teams so two Republicans two Democrats and four NP’s or non partisans that are allowed into the room,” he said.
June Primary:
- The Primary Election is on Tuesday, June 11th
- Early voting will start May 25th and last through Friday June 7th
If you would like to observe via livestream through the camera feeds starting May 25th, you can do so by going to Washoe County's YouTube page.
