UPDATE: On Monday, February 21, the Washoe County Board of County Commissioners announced that it will be pulling the Election Resolution from Tuesday's meeting agenda. The District Attorney's Office has determined that the item violated open meeting law and cannot legally be opened for discussion on Tuesday.

Statement on behalf of Washoe County Commission Chair Vaughn Hartung and Vice Chair Alexis Hill:

On the advice of the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office, we will be pulling Agenda Item 14 (Election Resolution R22-28) put forth by Commissioner Jeanne Herman related to election security. As stated by the District Attorney’s Office below, the process by which the item was introduced was in violation of the Open Meeting Law and cannot be heard at tomorrow’s Board of County Commissioners meeting scheduled for 10 a.m., February 22.

We apologize for the inconvenience but must follow the legal advice of our District Attorney.

Statement from Washoe County District Attorney Christopher Hicks:

Upon legal review, Item 14 on the Board of County Commissioner’s agenda for February 22, 2022 – concerning a possible resolution making changes to the county’s election process and rules — a recommendation has been made that the item should be removed from the agenda at this time due to Nevada Open Meeting Law requirements.

Specifically, Item 14 was submitted the day before the agenda deadline by a commissioner and did not go through the customary agenda review process. As a result, the agenda item description does not match the resolution that has been submitted for possible approval and does not adequately describe the possible action to be taken.

Therefore, the agenda item is removed from tomorrow’s agenda and may be resubmitted at a later date. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by not opening this item at tomorrow’s meeting.

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ORIGINAL STORY: FEBRUARY 18, 2022: 

The Washoe County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to discuss a resolution that would make 20 changes to how residents vote. Commissioner Jeanne Herman brought the proposal forward after the February 8 meeting when dozens of people spoke in favor of election changes.

One of Herman's measures would include a Nevada National Guard presence at every polling location.

"I'm very disappointed in this resolution as a whole, so I think that that is a way to intimidate voters and militarize the voters and that's not what we want to do," Alexis Hill, Washoe County Commissioner said.

Another proposal would eliminate the use of electronic voting machines but it would provide one machine at each voting location for people with disabilities. Instead, it would change Washoe County's method of voting to paper ballots, which would be counted by hand.

"As long as they can prove that the paper polls are being placed in the right places and everyone's vote is counted, I mean, yes," Breanna Anderson, Reno resident said.

"I don't have a problem with how they count votes," Chris Abbey, Reno resident said. "I did software programming, so I can trust electronic stuff but I don't know what the point of the National Guard being there is."

"I don't know if National Guard needs to be there," Patrick Bera, Reno resident said. "Electronic, they don't need to get rid of it. They just need to police it differently. I think electronics are good."

Some residents say they trust the current system. Secretary of State Barbara Cgavske says there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Nevada.

"We have shown that we have very fair and secure elections here in Washoe County," Hill said. "There is no need for these changes."

The Washoe County Registrar of Voters says the electronic machines are safe. They are stand-alone machines that are not connected to the internet.

"They're not tied to the internet," Hill said. "These are machines that actually, on the side of them, if folks haven't voted before they'll see that there's a sheet of paper that runs through and you can see who you have voted for," Hill said.

Some of the changes would also update how the voter rolls are cleared. A recent state law that requires universal mail ballots also includes county clerks and registrar of voters to work with the state to remove people who have died from the voter rolls. It also requires help from the DMV to show residency. Herman's proposal would also require federal help to show proof of immigration status and proof of address. 

Changes would also include who could work at polling places, the amount of money donations to the registrar of voters office, and accessibility for poll watchers.

Some residents say they trust the current system and say that the attempt to change the election laws is born out of paranoia and a national party agenda.

"I have a high degree of confidence in it," Mark Lewis, Reno resident said. "I really think the more access people have to voting is really the basis for our democracy."

Hill says the resolution has some questions regarding legality and cost.

"The Washoe County Commission can't make these changes," Hill said. "They need to be done at the state level, so it's not an appropriate forum for these to be discussed."

We did request an interview with Herman but she has not responded.