Poll Workers & Observers Experiences with the 2020 Election
When Nevada’s tried and true election processes were completely upended by a partisan hack legislature within 90 days of the General Election, it was Nevada Republicans who stepped up to legally observe the process. Over one thousand volunteers spent tens of thousands of man hours attempting to observe at the polls and ballot counting at Election Departments. While we honor the dedication of most of the honest poll workers who worked to deliver the election for their fellow Nevadans, our Election Day Operations Team received hundreds of negative experiences and violations. Our volunteers were subjected to obstruction of their legal right to observe, partisan favoritism on the part of site leads at dozens of polling locations, and even blatant illegal behavior on the part of many bad actors working the polls.
NRS 293.274 Members of general public allowed to observe conduct of voting at polling place; photographing or otherwise recording conduct of voting by members of general public prohibited.
1. The county clerk shall allow members of the general public to observe the conduct of voting at a polling place.
2. A member of the general public shall not photograph the conduct of voting at a polling place or record the conduct of voting on audiotape or any other means of sound or video reproduction.
3. For the purposes of this section, a member of the general public does not include any person who:
(a) Gathers information for communication to the public;
(b) Is employed or engaged by or has contracted with a newspaper, periodical, press association, or radio or television station; and
(c) Is acting solely within his or her professional capacity. (Added to NRS by 1995, 2772; A 1999, 264)
The Nevada Republican Party and Trump Campaign were more than dismayed with reports of ‘rules for thee but not for me’. Supposed non-partisan ‘Election integrity Team’ workers would violate the clear language in election law by talking to voters in line and recording them with their phones at the entrance to the polling location, well within the 100 feet. The EIT would leave food and water next to the ballot drop boxes, and we even have reports of poll workers wearing the EIT’s stickers and signage and handing out the pizza offered by the pro-Biden Harris EIT. By contrast, we had an elderly volunteer who has been a poll watcher for over 35 years who was removed from the polling location by police for thanking people for voting while the site leads stood by and laughed. Dozens of our legal observers were harassed and intimidated by both EIT and the site leads. We have included some of the sworn declarations outlining the issues that poll workers and observers faced during the election.
How much fraud, irregularities, illegal activity, and obstruction is enough to get our Law Enforcement and Government officials investigating? If allowed during this election and not addressed immediately, there will be no integrity or trust in future elections.