‘A crisis for our democracy’: Why Nevada’s voter-registrar turnover rates are such a big problem

In a public comment to the Washoe County Commission in January, Jennifer Willett—senior grassroots manager for All Voting Is Local, a group that aims to protect voting access—stated that “turnover rates (of top election officials) should be recognized as a potential crisis for our democracy, especially as election officials have cited harassment, death threats, lack of trust from voters due to election conspiracies, burn out and more.” 

Her comments came after then-Washoe County Registrar of Voters Jamie Rodriguez resigned in January without stating the reason. Her predecessor, Deanna Spikula, had resigned in July 2022 due to intense harassment. 

The Reno News & Review spoke to Willett and All Voting Is Local Nevada state director Kerry Durmick about the reasons for the turnover of election officials—and what this trend means for Nevada. 

How are the turnover rates of top election officials in our state a potential crisis for our democracy? 

Willett: I think that especially in our state, (facilitating) democracy and voting is an increasingly complex job. Just this year, we have three elections, and we have three different ways you can vote: by early vote, by mail and on Election Day. When people turn over, of course, there’s a brain drain, but that’s really concerning in a highly technical job like this. 

When you say “brain drain,” what do you mean? 

Willett: If a registrar or clerk has been there for 30 years, they know so much that they don’t even know how to write it all down. It’s all of their experience combined. So when somebody resigns or retires after 30 years, like (former County Clerk Kristine Jakeman, after being in the job for 22 years) in Elko, they take a lot of that knowledge with them. 

Durmick: From a statewide perspective, I think the bigger issue in some of our rural communities is the pressure the boards of commissioners are putting on these county clerks. The clerks are not always resigning because of threats. Most of the time in the rural counties, it’s because the boards of commissioners have put unnecessary pressure on them to do things that could create a crisis situation in their county.  

To be as positive as possible, we don’t have a single county (in Nevada) that does not have a county clerk in the role right now. That’s really significant, because a lot of states can’t say that. We’ve seen deputies step up, and they’re now serving as the clerk or the registrar in those counties. 

Can you give an overview of what is happening right now regarding the turnover of voter registrars and county clerks? 

Durmick: Since 2020, we’ve had over 50 percent of registrars or county clerks (in Nevada) retire or resign for various reasons. My concern with Washoe is that we have a group of conspiracy theorists that is putting a lot of pressure on whoever is sitting in that registrar of voters role and creating an unsafe situation for them at times. Like we’ve seen in the past, Deanna (Spikula) resigned over threats. … In Esmeralda County right now, the Board of Commissioners is pushing County Clerk (LaCinda Elgan) to hand count, and she does not want to. They’re making threatening remarks about cutting her budget if she doesn’t do it. 

Can you speak to what the goal of these “conspiracy theorists” might be? 

Durmick: In Washoe County, and particularly in places like Nye County, they’re pushing hand counting, which we as an organization fundamentally disagree with. 

What is so bad about hand counting? 

Durmick: It’s much less cost-effective. You have to get way more poll workers and volunteers in order to hand count. It is an extremely bad process for the safety of ballots. Voters are forced to use a paper ballot instead of having the option of going to a ballot machine. So it really is taking away access from voters who live in rural Nevada. 

Willett: Broader research on this shows that (hand counting) is not as accurate as when you count with machines. People make mistakes. 

Do you think the push for hand counting in Nevada is tied to the accusations of election fraud that fueled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol? 

Durmick: I do think it is tied to the conspiracy theory of voter frauds and the effects of (the 2020 presidential election). Washoe actually kicked us off in 2021 with anti-voter resolutions, and those were voted down, luckily, but a lot of them were illegal, federally and statewide anyway. Lander started discussing the conspiracy theory of the Dominion machines and switched over from Dominion to ES&S (Election Systems & Software). And then (calls to hand count) moved to Nye and Esmerelda. Elko discussed (hand counting) in 2021 and 2022, but it was never implemented. 

When you say anti-voter resolutions, what do you mean? 

Durmick: In Washoe, they were attempting to have the National Guard at every polling place, paper ballots, hand counting, limited machines, (and to make it so) the county would be able to cancel voter registrations for various reasons that are illegal. And (Washoe County Commission Vice Chair_ Jeanne Herman has talked about bringing those resolutions back on the Washoe County Commission Board. 

Willett: Commissioner Herman brings (these resolutions) forward to be voted on again periodically. She proposed bringing it back up fairly recently, only a few months ago, but it didn’t end up making it onto the agenda. These proposed changes would definitely make it harder for people to vote, make the count less accurate, and it would take a lot longer and take a lot of our resources. 

Just how large of a role are county commissions playing in these issues in Nevada right now? 

Durmick: County commissions are really what I’m seeing as the issue behind this. Esmerelda hand counted in 2020 because of pressure from the county commission. And then the Nye County Commission pressured their former County Clerk (Sam Merlino), and she resigned. Then Mark Kampf was appointed, and so that’s why there was a hand counting process. 

Willett: In the Washoe County Commission, the anti-voter resolutions are coming up repeatedly. And we have two county commissioners (Herman and Michael Clark) who, frankly, support a lot of these resolutions that would make it harder to vote, but there are three commissioners who generally support the registrar, as well as other people, like the district attorney. They can work out the legal aspects as a protective factor so they’re not forcing the registrar into making these difficult decisions or doing things that they know would make it harder for people (to vote). So having a supportive majority on a county commission is also really, really important for them.