Nevada Clark County Poll Workers Information Challenge

Lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee (RNC) against Clark County challenging Nevada’s compliance with the Nevada Public Records Act as it pertains to sharing information about poll workers. The plaintiff alleges that its request for information about poll workers (including names and party affiliation) was denied in violation of the Nevada Public Records Act. Despite the fact that threats to election workers are on the rise throughout the country, the RNC contends that disclosing the poll workers’ names and affiliations “does not implicate anything more than nontrivial privacy interests and does not create any realistic risk of harassment or other stigmatization. After all, the names (and sometimes salaries) of government workers are public information and often listed online. And, the poll workers and their names will be visible to the public throughout the voting process at polling locations.” The RNC also notes that the “Legislature has not specifically designated poll worker names and party affiliation as confidential and beyond public inspection.” The plaintiffs request a writ of mandamus (a court order compelling a party to take a certain action) requiring the respondents to produce documents containing the names and political affiliations of poll workers.

On Oct. 5, the parties entered an agreement in which Clark County consented to providing the RNC with the “scheduled roster for all early voting and general election polling locations in Clark County, including manual signature verification and counting board teams.” The roster “will include the political party affiliation and job title/task assignment for all poll workers at each polling location,” but the RNC agreed to not “seek the names of the poll workers.”

On Oct. 27, the RNC filed a motion to unpause the case and requested a writ of mandamus (a court order compelling a party to take a certain action) to require the Clark County Board of Elections to add more Republicans to its signature verification board (a bipartisan board whose members verify if a signature on a mail-in ballot is valid if it cannot be discerned by a computer), a notably broader request than the one in their original lawsuit seeking public records. The court denied this request on Nov. 3. On Dec. 22, the court issued an order of dismissal.

Last updated: October 31, 2022 5:28 pm EST