Their walk longer than most
Ceremony honors refugee students who now call Clark County home
Rwas 3 when her family fled their home in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002.
She doesn’t remember her homeland, but she remembers her parents struggling in Rwanda and Burundi to make a life for her and her seven siblings.
Those turbulent years made the 19-year-old’s walk across the stage at the Silverton on Wednesday during a Refugee Recognition Ceremony all the more special. She also was selected for a special honor, singing “The Star-spangled Banner.”
As she finished, cheers
erupted from the crowd of about 200 families, friends, teachers, principals and immigrant advocates, bringing a big smile to her face.
The ceremony, hosted by the Clark County School District, Southern Nevada resettlement agencies and local nonprofit Lighthouse Charities, honored 92 students resettled in Clark County through the U.S. refugee resettlement program, including 36 high school graduates. It was created last year to celebrate the
accomplishments of refugee students and acknowledge the unique struggles they face, including learning English and adjusting to a new culture and new way of life in America.
“These students are living reminders of the values and beliefs that unite us all across racial and ethnic boundaries,” said Ouiza Weber, project facilitator for the CCSD’S English Language Learner Division. “They have hopes and dreams for their futures. They have love and passion for their family and friends.”
For Cindy Trussel, there were “no words” to describe Wednesday’s event. Trussel founded Lighthouse Charities four years ago and works to help refugee and at-risk families become self-reliant through English classes and job training.
STUDENTS
record sign-in information whether they are on-line or not.
“If they had been online when one of those voters came to a polling place on Election Day, the system would have identified them as already having voted.”
The errors mean the county will hold a special election to select the Republican nominee for county administrator, which was decided by only four votes. The race’s unofficial winner, Aaron Manfredi, has criticized the county for failing to train poll workers.
Two poll workers who contacted the Las Vegas Review-journal believe more scrutiny should be given to the county’s new election software and hardware.
The electronic poll book technology is supposed to record data, such as when and where a ballot is cast, in real time. The laptops used to check in voters at polling places should display a warning if a person tries to vote a second time, according to a laptop operator manual from the county election department.
“ALREADY VOTED — CALL TEAM LEADER,” a display screen should read.
The poll workers who contacted the Review-journal said that was not the case in at least two instances at separate polling locations on election day. They asked not to be named for fear of retribution, but they provided documentation showing they were poll workers.
One worker said that a man who voted at Burkholder Middle School in Henderson on election day returned to the site after realizing he had cast a ballot during early voting.
The second poll worker, who was stationed at Escobedo Middle School in Las Vegas, said she voted by mail the week before election day. However, when she looked up her own name on a laptop at an Election Day polling site, it did not show that she had voted.
The volunteer said she used the county’s website to confirm her ballot had been received before Election Day, meaning it could have been processed before June 12.
Jennifer Russell, a spokeswoman for the Nevada secretary of state’s office, said the state will not conduct
any further examination of the matter.
Election day issues
Voting centers statewide endured technical difficulties on election day, but Russell said no voters were prevented from casting a vote.
Some voters in Clark County reported their ballots were already filled out when they started the voting process, but they were able to change the selections.
At a voting center in Summerlin, volunteers and voters said poll workers’ laptops were not properly paired with tablets displaying voter information. This caused confusion during the voter check-in process because one voter’s personal information would appear on a tablet display that another voter was using.
The Reno Gazette-journal reported that some voters in Washoe County were presented with a wrong slate of ballot choices. The paper also reported that voters were delayed from casting ballots the morning of the election because the time programmed on voting cards and voting machines did not match.
A small number of machines in Las Vegas and Reno — estimated at fewer than 30 — did not properly display all candidates’ names, The Associated Press reported.
Mulligan for voters
Commissioners on Wednesday directed county staff to begin preparing the special election.
Gloria told commissioners any Republican who voted in the primary — some 74,000 people countywide — would receive a mail-in ballot by July 3.
Manfredi said having a new election would be an unfair burden, because he and opponent Thomas Fougere would have to spend more campaign money to spur voter turnout.
“What is the county and election department going to do to make sure everyone knows to revote?” Manfredi asked. “We shouldn’t have to go out there and spend thousands and thousands of dollars for something that wasn’t our fault.”
Fougere said he too is worried about turnout, but a new election is necessary.
“I am certainly working my base and doing all that I can to get all the votes out that I can,” he said.