With early voting approaching, ACLU files emergency appeal over Nye County ballots

In a continued attempt to halt Nye County’s plans to conduct its Nov. 8 midterm election by hand-counting paper ballots, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed an emergency appeal Monday to the Nevada Supreme Court.

With early voting starting Saturday, the ACLU of Nevada is asking justices to take action by Friday.

“The time constraint, the inability to seek a remedy after the election, and the national impact of these issues warrant the Supreme Court’s immediate attention,” the emergency petition says.

In September, Nye County decided to implement hand counting in its election as well as the use of only paper ballots. The ballots will be counted via an electronic tabulator but will be double-checked by teams of hand counters, Nye County Clerk Mark Kampf said during a presentation in September.

The ACLU and other organizations challenged the decision but have had no luck. Nye County Judge Kimberly Wanker denied a writ petition from the ACLU last week because vital documentation was not provided. The judge did not schedule a hearing on the matter and did not rule on the merits of the case, ACLU of Nevada Voting Rights Attorney Sadmira Ramic alleges.

“The Nye County judge’s ruling is incredibly disappointing because the legal issues raised are very serious and impact Nye County voters, including those with disabilities,” said Ramic in a statement.

Athar Haseebullah, the executive director of ACLU of Nevada, said in a statement that Nye County’s proposed paper ballot and hand count procedures will “suppress voting rights, undercut election integrity, and impact vulnerable Nye County voters.”

He added that the ACLU of Nevada likely will file additional challenges regarding this election and future elections.

Early results

The ACLU of Nevada argues that Nye County’s election procedures will unlawfully announce election results before the polls close, will invalidate voters’ ballots and will allow election workers to ask voters about any disabilities they might have, according to the petition.

Nye County’s procedures call for an election worker to announce the candidate selected from each race from a ballot — with another person looking over the worker’s shoulder to verify the reading — as well as a livestream of the election counting process. The ACLU argues the process will release election results early in violation of Nevada law, which states no results of mail ballots may be released until all polling places are closed and all votes have been cast.

“Any person who disseminates to the public in any way information pertaining to the count of mail ballots before all polling places are closed and all votes have been cast on the day of the election is guilty of a misdemeanor,” the petition says.

Help for special needs

During a presentation Kampf gave on Sept. 20 about election procedures, he said voting machines will be available for people with special needs to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, although he did not explain how the county will determine who has special needs.

The ACLU of Nevada argues that the procedures will impermissibly allow election workers to inquire about a voter’s disability or “turn away otherwise eligible voters based on arbitrary decision-making thereby preventing them from voting in local, state, and national elections.”

The ACLU also says that the county’s plan to implement “stringent signature verifications” is vague and does not provide explanations for what the verifications entail. Requiring voters to provide only an ID card would violate Nevada’s statutes, the petition says.

“This case involves unprecedented departures from safe, accurate, and transparent democratic voting processes used by communities across Nevada in order to implement unlawful hand counting procedures as well as other unlawful administrations of the election,” the emergency petition says.

Other organizations have worked to fight Nye County’s election procedures. Before Wanker denied the writ petition, Carson City District Court Judge James Wilson ruled against the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada’s motion asking to prohibit the Nevada secretary of state’s office from authorizing counties like Nye from engaging in hand counting.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter.