LETTER: Nevada lawmakers create Election Day fiasco
Kudos to the Nevada Legislature for rebranding the long-standing term, “Election Day” with “Election Week Plus” — and, in the process, making Nevada the laughingstock of the country.
Apparently, when the brain trust in Carson City decided to send ballots to every registered voter in the state (whether they wanted one or not) in the midst of COVID, which is basically over, they forgot to incorporate reasonable pre-election day return dates so returns would arrive on or before actual Election Day. In the process, they have created an almost laughable “Keystone Cops” scenario.
According to media sources, tens of thousands of mail in ballots were postmarked Nov. 8, which is perfectly permissible according to legislative guidelines. The problem is that it will take days to count those ballots — not to mention the “challenge ballots” with questionable signatures and other rouge ballots that will undoubtedly turn up.
Meanwhile, Florida, which has taken considerable heat over the years for shoddy election practices (remember “hanging chads”?) managed to have most, if not all, of its votes tabulated within hours of the polls closing. Florida has a population of about 21 million compared to slightly more than 3 million in Nevada.
To avoid another “whoops,” Nevada lawmakers need to take a long look at their out-of-control election creation and make some significant changes. Nevadans deserve more.
