RENO, Nev. (AP) 鈥� Officials in a rural Nevada county will allow members of the public to view the hand-counting of mail-in ballots before Election Day if they sign a waiver promising not to release voting information early, the county said Wednesday in its response to a lawsuit asking the state Supreme Court to halt the county鈥檚 plan.
Nye County's 20-page statement filed in the Nevada Supreme Court came in response to an emergency petition by the ACLU鈥檚 Nevada chapter
The planned hand-count will take place alongside machine tabulators. The plan, which has the full support of the county commission, was put in place in response to false claims about Dominion voting machines that have spread throughout the county twice the size of New Hampshire.
Nye County is one of the first jurisdictions nationwide to act on election conspiracies related to mistrust in voting machines. Nevada鈥檚 least populous county, Esmeralda, used hand-counting to when officials spent more than seven hours counting 317 ballots cast. On Wednesday, Elko County鈥檚 board of commissioners discussed their support for hand-counting and paper ballots, though they will likely have no hand-count this cycle as it's too close to when polls open.
Nye County alleged that the ACLU鈥檚 argument rests on 鈥渟peculation and a distorted view鈥� of their process.
The ACLU argued Nye County鈥檚 plan to start counting mail-in ballots two weeks before Election Day risks the . It alleges that county officials鈥� method of using a touch-screen tabulator for people with 鈥渟pecial needs鈥� illegally allows election workers to ask about a voter鈥檚 disability or turn away otherwise eligible voters based on 鈥渁rbitrary decision making,鈥� and that Nye County鈥檚 wording of 鈥渟pecial needs鈥� is ambiguous.
The organization also argues that the county鈥檚 鈥渟tringent signature verification,鈥� which allows the clerk to require an ID card if a voter鈥檚 signature fails, violates state statute.
In response, Nye County said that streams of the hand-count process will not be released until after polls close and that in-person poll observers will need to sign a form if they observe the hand-count before Election Day to not release any information. The county referenced Nye County interim Clerk Mark Kampf鈥檚 comments at a recent county commission meeting where he said he would not turn anyone away who claims that they need to use the touch-screen tabulator.
鈥淓ven if this bullet-point was suggestive of some nefarious plot, this court needs more than just speculation and the possibility of a future act to provide legal relief,鈥� the county argued in response to the claim that the 鈥渟tringent signature verification鈥� violates Nevada statute. The county also defended asking for voter ID as a verification option if a voter's signature does not match.
鈥淲e are eager to respond to Nye County and to have our concerns considered on the merits,鈥� said Wes Juhl, ACLU of Nevada's director of communications and outreach. 鈥淲e鈥檙e two days away from the start of early voting, and we鈥檙e not going to back down from protecting access to the polls and the freedom to vote in this case but also throughout Nevada into Election Day and beyond.鈥�
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Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Stern on Twitter:
Gabe Stern, The Associated Press
