Whistle blower Babette Rutherford has accused various unions throughout Nevada of engaging in “voter intimidation, coercion, bribery, undue influence, and violations of the rules governing poll watchers.” In her complaint filed with the Nevada Secretary of State, Rutherford highlights three early voting stations where unions bussed workers to the polls and proceeded to “escort” and “watch” members vote. At the Boulevard Mall, Las Vegas early voting station, the registered poll watchers questioned the legality of the occurrences only to be told by the Election Board Team Leader that “union personnel were watching members vote because that’s the ‘whole point’ of busing them there.”
“The systematic violation of election law in Nevada is an affront on the democratic process. It is apparent that Nevada unions united and put forth a concerted strategy to ensure that workers voted the way the union saw fit. This carefully coordinated activity makes you wonder how pervasive this type of intimidation is,”said Christopher Prandoni, Executive Director of the Alliance for Worker Freedom.
The formal complaint has been submitted to the Democratic Secretary of State Ross Miller’s Nevada Election Task Force which was created to investigate instances such as this. Having not heard back from Secretary Ross, it remains to be seen whether or not he will employ his Task Force.
“The Nevada Senate race could be decided by a few thousand votes, the current polling is within the margin of error. These potentially illicit activities, depending on how wide-spread they are, may very well decide the election. Secretary Ross would do well to investigate these well-founded claims,” Prandoni added.