What About Those Election Worker Threats Washoe County?
We received this from Washoe County Commissioner Mike Clark, who sent it to Picon along with a number of other media folks. This Election Integrity Violation Report was filed September 5, 2024.
When we reached out to Commissioner Clark for a comment he said he was all for getting teens involved in the political process, “maybe they will stay interested and run for office one day.” Clark also wanted to go on the record he has “heard” that some people who volunteer to be a poll workers have not been accepted by Washoe County and has reached out to the Registrar of Voters for clarification.
Picon’s question is what has happened to all those threats being made to poll workers that Washoe County was touting not too long ago, you know, the Reno Gazette Journal’s July 18, 2022 article: Washoe County fights ‘character-assassinating accusations’ against election staff. Or the July 31, 2022 article with the impending departure of the ROV, “Washoe County Registrar of Voters Deanna Spikula Looks Back,” which highlighted election threats.
What happened to all those threats that County Manager Eric Brown has discussed, you know, putting volunteers in harms way.
Picon has been asking for public records to support the county’s threat claims for three years and haven’t received one record confirming a threat. Commissioner Mike Clark has asked to see the threats from the dais and received no supportive documents.
Our question is has Washoe County screwed up and by launching a campaign to get 16-17-year old high school students to be poll workers all but admitted there have been no verified threats.
Has Washoe County ruined their volunteer election worker base by scaring them all away with the many comments made about threats by the county staff in 2020, 2022 and the 2024 primary, and now have to turn to high school students to get the number of election workers needed.
Or will be Washoe County Manager Eric Brown be putting our kids in harms way?
How about some transparency Washoe County?
