Washoe County Wins on Democracy!

Washoe County is the second most populous and the only purple county in the swing state of Nevada. When our County Commission voted 3-2 against certifying our primary elections, we knew we were in uncharted territory and set a terrifying precedent for the general election. The refusal to certify raised alarm bells about the integrity and future of our electoral process.

In response, our Attorney General and Secretary of State filed legal action, and community groups mobilized. The Commission set a new meeting on July 16 to reconsider the decision.

At that hearing, election deniers turned out in full force, spreading more disinformation about widespread voter fraud and using other incendiary rhetoric to undermine confidence in the electoral system. But pro-democracy groups like Indivisible, Climateers, and Third Act also mobilized, determined to counter these extreme falsities.

We called out the absurdity of claiming that any election not resulting in a Republican victory was rigged or stolen through voter fraud. We firmly denounced the drumbeat of election denialism, emphasizing that it has profound and deleterious implications for the survival of our democracy.

After several hours of impassioned public testimony, our efforts bore fruit. We succeeded in flipping two votes on the Commission, resulting in a 4-1 vote in favor of certifying the election results. So, for now, Democracy is safe in Washoe County!

Many thanks to our Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar (pictured below with Bill McKibben, Rebecca Solnit, and Elvira Diaz from Third Act Nevada in 2022), whose strong and principled stand helped ensure the will of the people and the sanctity of our elections were upheld.