Nevada’s return to an all-paper ballot system is being called a victory for election transparency. However, voting rights advocates are raising concerns about the implementation of Precinct Scanner-Tabulators that undermine the state’s uniform voting standards.
For the first time in decades, Nevada has a statewide standard based on paper ballots, including electronic ballots duplicated onto paper. However, critics point to significant inconsistencies in how different types of ballots are processed and counted.
The controversy centers on the Precinct Scanner-Tabulators used in every county for in-person voting, which require verified voters to scan their own ballots through the machines. This process is not applied to provisional voters, mail-in voters, or those using eBallots (online voting), creating what advocates describe as a non-uniform system.
Critics argue that the Precinct Scanner-Tabulators lack manual audit capacity, with no screen image or Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) for voters to verify that their digitized votes are accurately received and stored. However, voters receive no receipt from the machine, and the process of transferring digitized votes via Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) memory cards to central tabulators is unique to this equipment.
The issue appears to conflict with Nevada’s Voters’ Bill of Rights Clause 10, enacted in 2020, which states that “each voter has the right to a uniform, statewide standard for counting and recounting all votes accurately as provided by law.”
Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) specify different counting procedures for different ballot types. Mail ballots can be counted starting 15 days before the election, while provisional ballots cannot be opened until the Wednesday following election day. Early voting returns are counted after 8 a.m. on election day, but must be reported separately from regular votes.
Critics argue that allowing voters to tabulate their own ballots at polling places, as a central board counts other types of ballots, does not satisfy the requirement for a “uniform, statewide standard.” Additionally, NRS 293.365 requires that “no counting board in any precinct, district, or polling place in which paper ballots are used may commence to count the votes until all ballots used or unused are accounted for.”
The Precinct Scanner-Tabulator counts and stores votes before all ballots are accounted for, violating this statute.
The solution proposed by advocates is simple: “Have the counting board scan and tabulate the regular votes cast at the polls after polls close.”
They note that there is no law mandating the use of Precinct Scanner-Tabulators, and counties could easily trade in this equipment for more workstations at central processing or return to hand-counting ballots.
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