Washoe County Election Officials Detail New Ballot Security Measures

Washoe County's elections office briefed local media this week on a set of new ballot security procedures, part of an ongoing effort to increase transparency after several elections cycles marked by public skepticism about vote-counting processes.

The changes include expanded chain-of-custody logging for ballot transport between polling sites and the county's central counting facility, along with additional public observation windows during the tabulation process. Officials say the measures build on existing safeguards rather than replacing them.

"Every step already had a paper trail," the county's elections registrar said. "What we're adding is more visibility into that trail for the public, so people don't have to just take our word for it."

The county plans to publish a public dashboard tracking ballot counts in near real time during the upcoming election, a first for the office.