dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Michael Pruser

@MichaelPruser

Nevada now has 774,026 voters, representing ~56% of the expected electorate.

Eleven days of early voting are in the books, and three remain.

🔴Republicans - 306,905

🔵Democrats - 264,109

🟡Others - 203,012

This evening, a modest amount of mail, combined with a slightly less robust total of Republican in-personearly votes, adds 2,698 to the Republican advantage, bringing their edge to 42,796.

Republicans in Clark County now have an 11% turnout edge over their Democratic rivals. The Democratic raw vote lead in Clark remains at 4,000 votes.

Morning mail + frequency scores will be updated late tomorrow morning.

NV Sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uPZIgl4G2qFEjuKCVjE3MBkiPz1d3DvJ/edit?gid=1078533895#gid=1078533895

https://x.com/MichaelPruser/status/1851481601206607924

Dispute over mask mandate at Island County ballot inspections escalates

ISLAND COUNTY, Wash. — A republican election observer in Island County was recently kicked out of the elections office for not wearing a mask, but county elections officials told KOMO News there is more to the story.

The incident happened Monday morning when observer Tracy Abuhl visited the office to observe the ballot inspection process. A video posted on social media by Rep. Jim Walsh shows what happened next. Abuhl was escorted out of the building by law enforcement.

But Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider told KOMO News' Paul Rivera that masks are only required in certain portions of the building. On Tuesday, Crider said the requirement is to keep staff and others visiting the building from getting sick.

Crider said in the August primary, 50% of the staff got COVID-19. With the election one week away, Crider said they could not function if they lost 50% of their staff again. She added that masks and gloves can also help protect workers from anything found on ballots or in envelopes.

Crider says Abuhl was not stopped from watching operations, she just was not allowed to watch it from a specific location. According to Crider, Abuhl was made aware of this policy days before the incident.

Island County Elections Supervisor Michele Reagan spoke to Rivera inside the elections office and showed him the location where Abuhl could watch the ballot inspections if she did not want to wear a mask. Reagan explained that votes are not yet being counted, but other steps in the process are being completed.

The ‘unmasked’ area gives observers a view of all the employees in the room. To enter the room, just a few feet away, you are required to wear a mask. Reagan said Abuhl chose to enter the room anyway and try to stay there without wearing a mask.

Crider said Abuhl made a statement to the effect of, “Well, you’ll have to remove me.” It was at this point that law enforcement escorted her out of the building. Washington GOP Chairman and State Representative Jim Walsh disagrees with the premise entirely.

“The staff asked her to leave because she would not wear a COVID-19 mask. The staff of the auditor of Island County cites a section of the Washington administrative code that grants the county auditors fairly wide discretion over making the rules for who can watch and observe ballot processing and ballot counting. This runs into conflict with higher levels of law, including actual state law,” Walsh said. “We believe with a first amendment right that our observer has to observe the election.”

Walsh said it is their opinion that the auditor’s policy is not stronger than state law. “I believe it’s the observer’s position that the secondary location where they’re telling her she can observe is not a clear line of sight for the process,” Walsh added.

Rivera said that he stood where the observer was told to stand, and the staff was visible. He asked Walsh what exactly the observer needed to see that couldn’t be seen from the ‘unmasked location.’

Walsh responded, “It is her position, it is not a clear line of sight,” he added, “I guess that is a somewhat subjective standard, she feels strongly that the location that was offered to her was inferior.” Regardless of the arguments, Walsh feels that this shouldn't have happened because the mandate shouldn’t be there in the first place.

“Washington Administrative Code, the bureaucratic rules allow a county auditor to set the basic policies and rules of election observer. That’s fine, but there is no specific allowance for requiring COVID-19 masks at a time when there is no widespread outbreak,” he said.

A Cease and Desist letter sent by Dr. James Peterson to Reagan on Tuesday morning also makes a similar argument.

https://komonews.com/news/local/island-county-elections-officials-representative-jim-walsh-covid-19-mask-mandate-auditor-2024-elections-staffing-observers-gop-state-rep-discretion-amendment