PAHRUMP, Nev. (KTNV) — Some voters in Nye County, particularly in Pahrump, faced delays on Election Day, sparking concerns about the efficiency of the voting process and its impact on the timely release of election results.
For most of the day on Tuesday, the line at the Bob Ruud Community Center, the only polling site in Pahrump, wrapped around the building, and the crowds continued to grow. Despite the polling site closing at 7 p.m., anybody in line before then would still be able to cast their ballot, and dozens of people stayed until they could do so.
So what caused the bottleneck at the only polling site in Pahrump?
Unlike Clark County, which uses touch-screen voting machines, most in-person voters in Pahrump filled out paper ballots. Nye County officials implemented that system following the 2020 presidential election.
In an effort to understand the causes behind the delays, we reached out to Arnold Knightly, a spokesperson for Nye County, who addressed the long wait times and the use of paper ballots.
In a statement, Knightly said in part:
“True, there were wait times, but we were not alone with that issue due to high voter turnout on election day. The reason for the delay had to do with the 174 same-day registrations in Pahrump on Election Day. Other jurisdictions experienced this too, leading to delays. At no point did we run out of paper ballots in Pahrump or at other locations. We are not sure why that rumor started, but that is untrue.”
ACLU of Nevada officials say otherwise, telling Channel 13 on Election Night that Nye County did run out of paper ballots, forcing some voters to use machines.
“They were insisting that folks use paper ballots. Let me tell you right now, they ran out of the paper ballots that they were using so now they’re going to funnel people into the voting machines. They didn’t even properly allot for that so I can't make sense of what’s nonsensical,” said Athar Haseebullah with the ACLU of Nevada.
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Haseebullah said Nevada’s elections often face national scrutiny for slower than expected reporting times, and these changes to Nye County’s voting process add to that narrative.
