The Elko County Commission’s intention to hand count paper ballots for the November general election disappeared Tuesday more easily than its goal of dissipating concerns of election fraud.

After discussion among themselves and from community members and no response from the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office regarding its proposed plan to hand count the ballots, commissioners tabled the discussion until next year. 

In order for the plan to be enacted in time for use in this year’s election, it would have needed to be submitted to the secretary of state’s office no later than Aug. 7 — the day of the meeting.

“We need to focus our efforts on getting either the secretary of state or the Legislature … to allow a different method of hand counting,” said Commissioner Rex Steninger. 

He also suggested that the current proposal be streamlined so it can be successfully presented to the secretary of state’s office, which last year adopted regulations allowing counties to use a limited form of hand-counting ballots if they meet certain requirements and their plan is approved by the office.

The secretary of state’s office declined to comment about the feasibility of hand counting ballots and Elko County’s proposal. 

Some Nevada counties, including Elko and Nye, have attempted to move toward paper ballots and hand counting amid unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud after the 2020 election. Currently, Elko County uses mechanical systems to count its in-person and mail ballots.One of those in favor of hand counting the ballots, Spring Creek resident Loyd Fonda, blamed low voter turnout on the distrust in accuracy of mechanical tabulation. “When you vote for Jones, you vote for Jones, that's what it means. [It] doesn't mean that your vote goes to Johnson,” Fonda said. 

“We've got to get back to the fundamentals. I’d like to see 75 percent or better people showing up to vote. [Voters] know what they want, but they're afraid to go and [vote] — they feel like it's a waste of their time.”

Hand counting ballots would have adverse effects on accurate tabulation and “continue to plant seeds of doubt” into the minds of voters, said Chanel Cassanello-Moran, the Nevada senior democracy defense manager for All Voting is Local Action, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for voting rights.

She added that the plan proposed by county commissioners contains methods that go against the secretary of state's regulations.

Ryan Vortisch, the Northern Nevada democracy coordinator with Silver State Voices, a progressive nonprofit, said hand counting poses “arguably the biggest threat” to accurate election results. He said a study by Rice University showed that hand counting ballots has a 58 percent accuracy rate and that another from the University of California Berkeley “yielded similar results.”

Vortisch also said that hand counting ballots may violate voters with disabilities right to a private voting experience.

Earlier this year, the county clerk’s office conducted a sample hand count, finding that each ballot would take 1.78 minutes to be counted.

If the same number of registered voters who cast their ballots in 2020 participated in the 2024 election, it could take more than 27 days of nonstop counting to complete the tabulation. The proposed plan in the commission’s agenda, however, states the count would be completed before the seventh day after the election.

Vernon Hatch, a county resident and presenter of the hand-count proposal, said he participated in the sample hand count and that the secretary of state’s current protocols are “purposely designed to be unworkable” and that the count “was an abject failure.”

According to the proposed plan, ballots would be counted in batches of 25, with teams of four that would include one Democrat, one Republican and at least one independent or nonpartisan voter. Teams will not be scheduled to work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period and the hand count schedule must not be more than 16 hours or two eight-hour shifts in a 24-hour period.

According to those presenting the plan at the commissioner’s meeting, the proposed hand count protocol has been adapted from Missouri’s approach. 

Although he strongly advocated for hand counting, Hatch said that he has studied but not used the proposed method on a Nevada ballot.  

Some aspects of the proposal, such as the cost of hand counting, reformatting the ballots or how many election board officers and tally teams are needed, have not been addressed.

Supporters of the plan did provide a list of 89 volunteers who would assist in the hand count process. The county clerk also has a list of individuals who have been approved to work at polling locations and help election staffing needs. 

Cassanello-Moran and Vortisch also mentioned the length of time as well as the cost that hand counting would impose on Elko County and its election volunteers when voicing their opposition to the proposal.