The Washoe County Registrar of Voters office received a lengthy list of feedback before and after the 2022 election, including a request by Commissioner Alexis Hill to consider an operational review of the election processes.
The county is in the final stages of selecting an outside firm to conduct the review, but already has a list of areas to consider for changes.
“There’s definitely a large list of things that we’ve heard, and some that we’ve been hearing for a while regarding our elections,” Registrar of Voters Jamie Rodriguez told commissioners at Wednesday’s special meeting of the Washoe County Board of Commissioners.
She said better maintenance of voter rolls, more accurate and readable reporting, education on election processes, better tracking of mail ballots and adjusting vote center locations based on use are all being reviewed.
“How do we involve the voters in this process?” Commissioner Mike Clark asked. He suggested getting input from voters through workshops, but also ensuring that voters feel heard.
“That’s the issue with this whole voter integrity – what took place [in 2022]. As long as the people are heard and we don’t say ‘we’re right, you’re wrong, take it or leave it,’” Clark said. “The folks out there that I hear are that they just want to be heard. If you do that you can diffuse this whatever that’s taking place.”
“I absolutely agree,” Rodriguez said. “Better education of the process is a big part of that. There’s a lot of misnomers about the process of voter roll maintenance.”
Rodriguez said that in addition to looking at how to best structure a feedback session for concerned voters, her team is having listening sessions with poll workers to get additional input on improvements or changes that could be made.
The registrar’s office is also in need of a new voter registration and election management system, which is no longer supported by its maker and, according to details provided by Rodriguez, doesn’t provide the reporting capabilities needed for modern elections.
A new system is already being reviewed at the state level, but Rodriguez told commissioners that the county can’t wait for the state to finalize its contract to move forward with a new election management system.
Acting now, she said, would ensure the new system is in place for all of the 2024 elections – including the presidential preference primary and general elections.
Rodriguez said the office also needs more staff to improve service from the office and ensure there’s adequate coverage to complete the work.
Commission Chair Vaughn Hartung requested Rodriguez look at creating a cross-training plan and test for efficiencies in the office to ensure that when staff members are not in the office others can take over their functions as needed.
The registrar’s office is already working on a system for that, Rodriguez said, including creating work teams and a detailed and calendared plan for future elections.
County to update diversity, equity efforts
County Manager Eric Brown said there’s broad support from county staff to work on improving equity within the organization and in how it serves the community. His remarks were part of the commissioners’ strategic planning session which included commissioner priorities for equity initiatives.
“This whole area of equity and inclusion … I think the county lags,” Brown told commissioners. “If you look at our strategic plan, it’s woefully lacking in addressing these issues.”
Brown said many other municipalities and counties are much further ahead of Washoe County on equity initiatives. The community is becoming more vocal about equity issues as well, he added, especially related to accessibility for people with hearing, sight and language differences.
“But that’s not the reason why I think we should consider it. I think it’s the right thing to do on a lot of different levels,” Brown continued. “It’s an operation principle I’d like to see deployed more pervasively to make sure those who are underserved get served.”
A project to update the county’s website at washoecounty.gov with accessibility features for people with vision and language differences is already underway, according to Elizabeth Jourdin, who is part of the county’s human resources team.
Jourdin highlighted a number of other human resources activities in the county including employee training to learn more about the Civil Rights Act and discrimination laws, diversity, equity, and inclusion training, and analysis of hiring practices for cultural competency and diversity.
She also listed a number of activities commissioners could prioritize for additional equity efforts, such as a language access plan, an assessment of facilities for ADA accessibility and compliance, or a review of unintended barriers to Title VI compliance.
Commissioner Alexis Hill said the county needs to take an internal and external approach to equity.
“We can’t serve the external community unless we fully represent them internally,” she said, adding that it can be a trust issue. “It’s all connected. It sounds like the staff understand that and hopefully that’s going to be the way that we’ll proceed is ensuring that we’re looking at how we hire, how we operate as an organization and how we serve our very diverse public.”
Commissioners directed county staff to prioritize health equity, human resources practices, developing a language equity plan, and assessing county facilities for ADA compliance.
