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Elko County asks Secretary of State to consider alternative hand-count procedure
Summary
After a test run, commissioners voted to send a letter asking the Nevada Secretary of State to consider alternative, more efficient hand-counting procedures for paper ballots rather than the current statewide method; the board debated naming the 'Missouri plan' explicitly and heard mixed testimony from the County Clerk and public commenters.
The commission voted to send a letter to the Nevada Secretary of State asking the office to consider permitting a different hand-counting method for paper ballots after a local test run showed the current method was problematic.
Commissioner (speaker 3) framed the request as a response to a trial run that showed the state-prescribed counting method was "unworkable," and he proposed a letter describing contrasts between the current process and a possible alternative. Several commissioners said they preferred not to narrow the request to a single named plan; one suggested asking for consideration of any more-efficient, workable method. County Clerk Becky Plunkett cautioned commissioners that attempts to use the Missouri-plan method in two counties in 2022 had failed for regular counts and that it is now used primarily for audits and recounts: "They... failed at it as well for the 2022... It was gonna cost more money and more time to do that Missouri hand count," she said.
Public commenters and party representatives urged action — some argued for hand counting as a path to more trust in elections, while others raised concerns about scale and future voting systems such as ranked-choice voting. The motion to send the modified letter carried, with one commissioner recording opposition on the floor.
