Nye County clerk tempers hand count expectations, calls it a 'test'

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — One day after Nye County Clerk Mark Kampf finally began his controversial hand count plan, he appeared to step back from previous claims and said it amounted to a “test.”

“In any system conversion, if you wanted to change, you wouldn't just shut off the old system and turn on the new one,” said Kampf on Friday. “You would test both in parallel to see how they work. And that's been our intention all along.”

The process finally started two days after Election Day, following a series of lawsuits and delays brought on by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada (ACLU).

The initial plan from Nye County, which Kampf claimed was taken directly from Nevada Secretary of State (SOS) guidelines, would have had hand counters read votes out loud with observers able to listen in.

Part of the ACLU lawsuit argued this could amount to releasing election results early if those watching kept count, which violates Nevada law. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed and ordered a halt until Nye County came under compliance with the law. After another suit from the ACLU, Kampf finally submitted a plan approved by the SOS.

“Unfortunately, we've had some blocks in the way. And we lost almost 14 days where we weren't counting,” Kampf said. “And so now we've got seven days to get it done before we have to lock those ballots up.”

Working in a Valley Electric Association conference center in Pahrump, Kampf said he had recruited around 170 volunteers from around Nevada to take part in the hand count. He put out a call for any registered Nevada voter to help meet the Nov. 17 deadline.

He said ballots are protected since the sheriff, wearing a body camera, takes the votes from the vaults in Tonopah each morning to deliver them to the Pahrump hand-counting center. Unlike poll workers elsewhere, there isn’t a strict division between parties for these volunteers. Kampf claimed there was a healthy mix of Democrats, Republicans, and others, but it wasn’t a requirement.

On Friday, two women drove down six hours from Carson City and said they planned to stay through Monday to help count. They said they saw the call for help and felt it was an important moment for Nevada’s elections to take part.

Under Kampf’s new plan, volunteers sit in teams of three, each person wearing gloves so as not to smudge or affect the ballots, and check each other’s work. They each have a purple pen so if any marks are made, it’s clear they weren’t from the voter’s blue or black ink.

However, on day one at least, Kampf admitted the process wasn’t smooth. He blamed many of the hiccups on the age of those counting. Had he had months to prepare, he said he could’ve interviewed more people and selected a more varied demographic of counters.

“We took the volunteers we had and put them to work. Unfortunately, you get a lot of mistakes when you get people in our demographic,” he said. “In this town, 85% of the people are 56 years and older. Sometimes even I make mistakes, you know, my ripe age of 68. So we had to send back a lot of votes for ballots for recount. But again, that's part of the quality control process is to make sure that we get the vote right.”

Kampf said each volunteer works as long as they can, but he planned many would be working long hours and through the weekend. They take breaks and on Friday, Kampf had pizza delivered for lunch.

After the first day, Kampf estimated there was a 25% error rate. He admitted it was “very, very high,” but remained optimistic it would improve after each day. As for the volunteers who couldn’t seem to keep up or grasp the process, Kampf said he would thank them for the support, but send them on their way.

Kampf said about 2500 votes were hand-counted on day one and he was confident they could keep the rate up and hit the deadline. As of Nov. 12, Nye County had reported over 20,000 votes came in for the midterm.

All of this stemmed from distrust in Dominion voting machines after the 2020 election. Then-President Donald Trump claimed there was widespread voter fraud without evidence and many election conspiracy theorists pointed blame at the machines. The unproven claims led to Republican-heavy counties, like Nye, to eventually seek an all-paper ballot election with a hand count.

In a March Nye County Commission meeting, eventual Republican Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant (who lost his election bid) made a presentation convincing Nye commissioners to vote for the paper ballot, hand counting process. The Nye County election clerk resigned and Kampf came out of retirement to help make it happen.

Kampf himself was an election denier. In an April candidate debate to become the next clerk, moderators asked who won the 2020 election. Kampf said Donald Trump and the room erupted into applause.

But on Friday, Kampf stepped back from his previous claims and took a more neutral stance.

“Had you asked me that question before I was clerk, I'd give you that answer,” Kampf said on whether Biden was elected president. “But any other answer other than, it doesn't matter to me right now. Because I have to be totally impartial in everything I do. So whatever opinions I may have expressed in the past, those opinions are irrelevant to the job I'm doing. Because my only goal is to serve everyone.”

Kampf also said he believed Nye County’s 2020 election was run legitimately, but he chose to take on this role because he was concerned to hear so many voters didn’t believe there was election integrity anymore. Trump won Nye County with 69% of the vote.

“Perception is reality. And they follow sometimes different resources, resources for their information,” Kampf said of his constituents who didn’t believe voting machines were credible.

“There's lots of different opinions about the 2020 election. I don't think anyone is right or wrong, because this is the United States of America, and everybody is still entitled to their opinion yet.”

In order to get the hand count process approved by the SOS, Kampf had to run a parallel process between hand counting and the Dominion voting machine tabulations. All results released by Nye County so far have been from the machines. It’s that reason Kampf said the hand count process is just a “test.”

After Election Day, he released a statement through Nye County calling their all-paper ballot election a “success” and “model,” getting through 81% of the votes on election night. However, he admits that number would’ve been much lower had they only relied on a hand count.

He said it’s worth it to take as long as needed to make sure they get it correct. Right now, Clark County is under intense scrutiny for its delays in releasing mail ballot results. If Nye’s hand count plan continues, their results could take even longer.

In the end, if the hand count process doesn’t meet the deadline, it won’t matter—for this election at least. The SOS will have all of Nye’s votes from the Dominion voting machines.

But, Kampf said, if he moves forward with a hand count for the 2024 presidential election, he hoped it would be much quicker after having more time to figure out the best practices. Other counties may follow suit as well. Elko commissioners voted down an all-paper ballot and hand count process last month, but only because they felt they didn’t have enough time to properly implement it.

As for Kampf, he remained confident on Friday, albeit much less defiant than he had been in the past. Kampf sees himself as a man of the people simply enacting what they asked for.

“You know, there's too much division in this world, way too much division,” he said. “And when you see this process go on—with a Democrat, Republican sitting next together and with a common goal. Sure could use a lot more of that in our society. And this, in Nye County, is where it starts.”