Nevada Ballot Counting Regulation Challenge (PLAN)

Lawsuit filed by the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) against Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske’s (R) challenging her recent guidance on ballot counting procedures. The secretary issued a temporary regulation that allows county recorders to hand count ballots (as opposed to using an electronic counter) at their discretion; the guidance does not mandate a uniform method of hand counting across counties. Under this temporary regulation, county recorders can now choose to count ballots by hand for a subset of federal or state races or all races if they decide to do so. A county may also (but is not required to) use an electronic tabulator to validate the results of the hand count. PLAN argues that this temporary regulation will create chaos in tabulation processes across the state because counties are not required to implement standard hand counting procedures or count ballots in the same ways in violation of state and federal law. The lawsuit asks the court to block this temporary regulation ahead of the 2022 general election to ensure that uniform counting standards are in place across Nevada. On Sept. 27, the court declined to block the ballot counting procedures guidance. The plaintiffs appealed the decision on Sept. 28. On Oct. 25, the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s decision, meaning the hand counting guidance will remain in place.

Last updated: November 8, 2022 3:43 pm EST