Judge's order keeps a wider no-electioneering zone at the Desert Breeze polling site in place through Election Day

What happened

District Judge Joe Hardy Jr. ruled Monday that a court order widening the no-electioneering zone at the Desert Breeze Community Center polling site will stay in effect through Election Day, the Las Vegas Sun reported. The ruling came after Clark County agreed not to contest the order. Desert Breeze is also an Election Day polling site.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada asked for the order. The group said voters at the site were followed and filmed, and that in one case a voter was hit in the face with a megaphone.

How the order changes the buffer zone

Where the 100-foot line now starts

State law bans electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place entrance. Hardy's order requires the county to treat the start of a roughly 200-foot pathway leading to the polls, rather than the building's door, as the entrance for that rule, according to the Sun.

The ACLU complaint describes the pathway as about 200 feet long and 10 to 20 feet wide, and it is the only way into the voting area. Until the order, the buffer was measured from the door, which left about half of the path open to electioneering.

How the case moved through court

Hardy first issued the order Thursday evening, hours after the ACLU sued in Clark County District Court. The suit names the county, Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo and three unnamed women the group accuses of harassing voters.

At Monday's hearing, ACLU of Nevada senior staff attorney Sadmira Ramic said the new zone was designated Friday and that election observers reported it had resolved the problems, according to court minutes cited by the Sun. County attorney Gia McGillivray agreed the site had been calmer and said the county would follow the court's orders. Hardy also waived a $500 bond he had required of the ACLU, citing the county's cooperation.

What the ACLU says happened at the site

An encounter on the first day of early voting

The lawsuit cites several incidents. Karel Bouley, a talk-show host, told the Sun he arrived to vote on Oct. 17, the first day of early voting, and found a woman with a megaphone shouting at voters. Bouley said she urged him to vote no on Question 6, the ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the Nevada Constitution. He said that as he walked away he heard an antigay slur, which he assumed came from her because no one else was nearby.

Bouley said poll workers told him the woman was outside the original 100-foot zone, so nothing could be done. He said that on his way out she put the megaphone in his face and struck him with it. The woman, referred to in court documents as Jane Doe No. 1, told police Bouley had assaulted her, according to the complaint. She was not arrested, and Bouley maintains he did not hit her.

Other reports in the complaint

On Oct. 24, at least seven people blocked the pathway, and one followed a voter all the way to the voting area while filming, the complaint said. In another instance, two voters climbed over rocks to avoid people gathered at the end of the path. ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah called the narrow path "a gauntlet of intimidation" and said he knows of at least one voter who went to a different polling site.

What officials and the ACLU said

"The county is in receipt of the court order and is complying," Clark County chief communications and strategy officer Jennifer Cooper wrote in a Friday statement. She added that the public should continue to feel safe exercising the right to vote.

Haseebullah said moving the entrance does not silence anyone, since people can still electioneer 100 feet away. "Voter intimidation and battery are not protected First Amendment activities," he told the Sun. A spokesperson for Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said Aguilar spoke with Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill about the incident.

Voters heading to the polls can review our guide to voting and returning a ballot on Election Day. For more on the people monitoring polling sites, see what Nevada's Election Day poll observers are trained to do.

What to watch next

• The expanded no-electioneering zone at Desert Breeze Community Center remains in effect through Election Day, when the center also serves as a polling site.
• Metro Police provided an event number for the Oct. 17 incident but, as of the Sun's publication, had not said whether a report was written, why the woman was not arrested or whether officers would enforce the court order.