Judge denies bid to preserve ballots from early voting sites in Southern Nevada

A judge denied a request Tuesday by the Donald Trump campaign to preserve ballots from several early voting sites in Southern Nevada because of alleged election violations.

Clark County District Judge Gloria Sturman also denied a request to preserve information about poll workers at those sites — saying she was not going to violate the privacy rights of people doing their civic duty and subject them to “public attention, ridicule and harassment.”

Throughout the 45-minute hearing, packed with local and national media, Sturman said she was puzzled and at times offended by the action brought by the Trump campaign.

In the end, she told Trump lawyer Brian Hardy the effort was premature and she would not issue an order to “preserve anything.”

Sturman said the Trump campaign needs to let the Nevada secretary of state’s office decide whether the potential evidence sought was relevant to any investigation the office might launch. Hardy had indicated that the campaign filed an election integrity complaint with the secretary of state.

The judge chided Hardy for not informing the secretary of state’s office about the hearing.

Most of what Hardy wanted Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria to preserve already was being preserved under state law, county counsel Mary-Ann Miller told Sturman.

Lawyers for the Republican presidential nominee said in court papers late Monday that the ballots needed to be set aside and the poll workers’ information retained because of potential legal challenges after the election.

The Trump campaign alleges that Clark County election officials kept early voting open at four sites long after the 8 p.m. closing time Friday.

But Miller defended the practice during the hearing.

And afterward, county spokesman Dan Kulin added, “Most, if not all, of our early voting locations had lines of voters when their scheduled closing time passed. As has been our practice for many, many years, those early voting locations continued processing voters until the lines were gone.”

A Nevada spokesman for the Trump campaign issued a statement saying the campaign “obtained the exact relief it requested,” despite Sturman’s order.

The spokesman said the registrar of voters agreed in court to preserve evidence “which may become necessary as the secretary of state investigates election issues raised by the campaign.”

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.