RENO, Nev. (AP) 鈥� Heading into this year鈥檚 midterms, the elections director in the largest county in one of the nation鈥檚 most important battleground states had a lot on his mind.
A required every voter to get a mailed ballot, new processes were in effect for counting all those ballots days after Election Day and the public needed to be assured the count would be accurate.
And there was this: breakfast and lunch.
Joe Gloria, the registrar of voters in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, knew he had to figure out how to feed his staff so they wouldn鈥檛 have to leave the office as votes were being counted. It was another fallout of the lies surrounding the 2020 presidential election, when former of widespread fraud and
Gloria and his workers were targeted by threats as Nevada, and Clark County in particular, became a hotbed for conspiracy theories stemming from the false claims.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, a month before he is scheduled to step down as Clark County Registrar of Voters, Gloria spoke about the high turnover rates of Nevada election officials, the need for more elections training throughout the state and detailed the threats and harassment he had largely kept quiet about while on the job.
鈥淥ver the course of years, I鈥檝e developed, I guess, something of a shell,鈥� he said over Zoom.
Gloria said protesters stood 100 feet (about 30 meters) from his office door, some carrying weapons, as he and his staff were counting the 2020 ballots. He received ominous emails and messages: 鈥淲e know where you live鈥� and 鈥淲e know where your family sleeps,鈥� read some of them.
Much of the harassment his staff received depended on how close to the building they could park. The longer the walk to the building, the more likely they would get noticed and harassed, so returning from a lunch break became a frantic experience.
鈥淵ou鈥檇 even come back and find if somebody had purposely taken their space,鈥� Gloria said of the parking lot outside the elections department. 鈥淎nd they were waiting for them for the long walk inside to verbally abuse them.鈥�
To avoid a repeat and reduce his workers鈥� anxiety, Gloria secured money earlier this year to provide breakfast and lunch for his staff during the election and ballot-counting period so they could avoid walking to and from the parking lot. His office also coordinated with local law enforcement to increase security.
Gloria said his resignation has nothing to do with the threats. Rather, he said it was simply time for him to start a new chapter after 28 years working in the same office.
He detailed his upcoming job as CEO of operations at the National Association of Election Officials, a national voting organization where he plans to provide elections training and advocacy, in part to help with high turnover of election staffs.
During the 2020 election and this year鈥檚 midterms, Gloria became the face of Nevada鈥檚 lengthy vote-counting process that allows for mailed ballots to be counted if they are postmarked on Election Day and received by an elections office within four days.
The Clark County elections office has been a focal point of attention because so many top races in Nevada are decided by -- and the county has about three quarters of Nevada鈥檚 registered voters. This year, the race for a U.S. Senate seat wasn鈥檛 decided until nearly a week after Election Day, after Clark County had nearly completed processing its late-arriving mailed ballots.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been kind of the calm in the storm and tried to be that way, and that鈥檚 the way I tried to train my staff,鈥� Gloria said.
He said his office was fortunate to be supported financially from the county, while acknowledging that not all counties in Nevada can do the same. Most election officials, particularly county clerks in the rural parts of the state, are 鈥渦nderpaid, underappreciated and expected to be knowledgeable in several areas.鈥� That includes marriage licenses, notaries, county records and in some cases, budgeting.
since the 2020 election. Well over half of the elections department within the secretary of state鈥檚 office also has turned over in that span, a result of fatigue and better opportunities elsewhere.
Gloria said it will be the responsibility of the to find more training opportunities and create a culture of mentorship. He said the state desperately needs more training as mass resignations have taken place across Nevada鈥檚 local elections departments.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an uphill battle that they鈥檝e got at the state level,鈥� Gloria said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 critical to the future of elections in the state of Nevada.鈥�
One county clerk resigned after two decades when her county commission unanimously called on her to 鈥� a plan that was modified because of lawsuits after the hiring of a new clerk who had previously denied the results of the 2020 presidential election. Another longtime local election official left because of . Another decided against running for re-election because of the rise of election conspiracists, the new voting laws and a slate of other duties that left her feeling in a rural office that received little money for adapting to the new demands.
Clark and other county election departments have scrambled to adapt to new voting laws passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature during the pandemic that were since made permanent, particularly a law that has each county send out mail ballots to every registered voter. Just over half of Nevada voters used the mailed ballots this year sending them back through the postal service, returning them via drop boxes or dropping them off at polling stations.
Gloria obtained county money to travel to Colorado and see how different counties adapted to the widespread mail voting there. The county also paid for a new facility to help process and count mail ballots.
Gloria became Clark County registrar in 2013 after 18 years working in various roles across the department. Before coming to Nevada, he worked in New Mexico as a voting machine technician.
He happened upon the career in elections administration by accident. He walked into a county clerk鈥檚 office in New Mexico to get a marriage license when the clerk, a friend and neighbor of his, said he was going to need a job after he got married.
鈥淚 said 鈥檡ou鈥檙e right,鈥� Gloria recalled. 鈥淏ut let鈥檚 get a license today. And I鈥檒l show up on Monday.鈥�
Now seen as a leading elections expert nationally, Gloria will put together training programs for the National Association of Election Officials. He said he would be open to working with Aguilar, who wants to make it a felony to harass or intimidate election workers and who has denounced election conspiracies that have spread across the state.
Gloria said he decided he would step down about a year ago. His position will be filled by Clark County鈥檚 board of commissioners.
鈥淚 thank goodness that I鈥檓 not leaving because I鈥檓 frustrated or because anybody forced me out of this office,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 left because it was my time to go.鈥�
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Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Follow Stern on Twitter:
Gabe Stern, The Associated Press
