Early Voting is in its fifth day, with more than 127,000 Nevadans voting in-person, so far. There are some state laws in place for people, once they arrive at their polling location. One of them outlaws electioneering. People are not allowed to campaign for a candidate or ballot question unless they are at least 100 feet away from the polling entrance. Voters are not allowed to talk about how to mark a ballot. It also bans voters from wearing campaign paraphernalia or advertising for them.
"So you can't have a shirt, you can't have a hat or something," Nicole Obritsch, Early Voting Assistant Manager at Lawlor Events Center said. "So if we saw that, we would ask them to remove that item before they came into the polling locations."
"If anybody wears a hat or anything, we ask them to remove it," Andra Melissa Grill, Early Voting Manager at the Sparks Library said. "If they absolutely refuse to remove it, we will not let them in to vote."
Most polling locations say these infractions are rare and that they usually involved someone who simply did not know that wearing campaign attire was illegal.
"I've maybe seen less than a half-dozen incidents and they're very easily handled," Grill said. "The man with the neck scarf put it in his pocket. When it was hanging out of his pocket, I made him stuff it all in his pocket. Zip up shirts, jackets over a t-shirt."
Campaign signs are allowed outside of the 100-foot perimeter. Voters have different opinions on the law that prevents people from showing their support for a specific candidate.
"I think it's the most ridiculous, stupid law I've ever heard that infringes on my right," Mark Hodgson, Sparks voter said. "If I want to wear a Trump hat or a Biden hat, that should be my choice, completely my choice and no one else's, and in fact if I was in line and they told me to take it off, I'd probably tell them to have a hike down the road, kick rocks."
"I think it's important because if now, you're going to get people yelling at each other when you get closer to the voting line and to have it away from there a little bit, I think is still fine," Don Franks, Sparks voter said.
Once a voter is inside the building, they are not allowed to take pictures of their ballot, or take selfies at the voting booth. Cell phones are only allowed for one reason.
"In Washoe County, you can go and look at your sample ballot online," Obritsch said. "So if you filled that out on your phone, you're allowed to have it with you in there but selfies, no."
It is allowed for people to take selfies or video while they drop their paper ballot into the box but not at the voting machine.
"There's no recording and no selfies or any pictures or filming allowed with the polling location," Deanna Spikula, Washoe County Registrar of Voters said.
Media is allowed to take photos or video of people voting. It cannot show anyone's ballot. There are a few reasons for the selfie ban, including secrecy of the ballot.
"And making sure that people aren't buying votes or employers aren't coercing their employees to vote a certain way," Spikula said.
If anyone voted and wants to post a picture on social media, that is fine. However, there is a time and place for it.
"We've been advising people to take your 'I Voted' sticker, go outside, maybe stand next to one of the 'Vote Here' signs or something like that and take your selfie there," Obritsch said.
Wait times have been very short at some of Washoe County's 15 polling places. Others have had waits of up to two hours. Voters are encouraged to find the wait times app to find out which location has the shortest lines. You can find that here: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/2fe9e44b691a4e32a9f0b84df16531c0
