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Bill would require county clerks to recruit and train poll workers for polling places on tribal lands
Summary
Senate Bill 421 would assign county clerks responsibility to staff polling places on tribal lands and require training to be provided in tribal communities or virtually. Supporters said the change remedies staffing gaps that emerged after voting access on tribal lands expanded.
The Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections heard Senate Bill 421 on April 22. Sponsor Senator James Ohrenschall (Senate District 21) said the measure is intended to fix staffing and training gaps that remain after Nevada expanded voting access on tribal lands in prior sessions.
Andrea Martinez, introduced as a former chairwoman and citizen of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, told the committee that Nevada has made progress—moving from zero reservation‑based polling places in 2016 to 20 in 2024—but that unclear statutory language left recruitment and training responsibilities unresolved. Martinez said SB421 would explicitly assign county clerks the responsibility to ensure tribal polling places are fully staffed and require that clerks provide training in person at the tribal nation or virtually to remove travel‑related barriers.
Witnesses supporting SB421 described specific implementation problems in the last election cycle. Martinez said, in at least one case, a tribe contributed $5,000 to increase poll worker pay to ensure staffing. Isaac Teneroyo of Campaign Legal Center said the bill creates an ‘‘opt out’’ program that makes it mandatory for the county or city clerk to recruit poll workers for polling places on tribal lands and to ensure training on mechanical voting systems.
Multiple tribal organizations and civic groups offered support: Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and Duck Valley Shoshone‑Paiute (through Silver State Government Relations), oneAPI Nevada, the ACLU of Nevada, Native Voters Alliance Nevada, Campaign Legal Center, Silver State Voices, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and Silver State Equality each provided testimony in favor of SB421. No callers testified in opposition or neutral positions during the hearing.
The sponsor closed by asking the committee to pass the bill; the hearing was then closed with no committee vote reported.
