A power outage at the Washoe County Registrar of Voters office on Monday afternoon, November 11, allegedly brought vote tabulation to a temporary halt, leaving staff working in the dark for over an hour.
Power reportedly went down around 3:45 p.m., affecting the Washoe County Administration Complex where the Registrar’s office is. Video footage showed workers continuing their tasks in darkness while the tabulation room remained entirely dark.
Registrar of Voters office staff confirmed that ballot processing paused during the outage, though they stayed onsite along with official observers, waiting for power to resume so operations could continue. Ballots secured in a cage were also visibly monitored.
Bethany Drysdale, Washoe County’s Communications Manager, was contacted at 4:58 p.m. to clarify why the facility’s generator was not fully powering essential systems. Drysdale confirmed that the outage affected multiple buildings in the area, including the University/I-80 Corridor, as NV Energy worked to repair equipment issues while also contending with the Callahan Ranch Fire south of Reno.
The Registrar’s office resumed operations shortly after power was restored around 5 p.m., brought on by the facility’s main generator. Washoe County issued a public alert regarding the outage, confirming that ballot processing would continue.
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