Nevada district overturns disputed vote and confirms two recounts while legal action threatens

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The election commission in Nevada’s second-most populous county certified the results of two local recounts on Tuesday, overturning a contentious vote against certification that drew legal action and put Washoe County in legally uncharted territory.

The 4-1 vote overturned a rare push to certify election results in the politically diverse Reno and Northern Nevada area that could have potential implications for the outcome of November’s election in one of the nation’s most important swing counties.

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar and Attorney General Aaron Ford are still waiting for the state Supreme Court to consider a petition they filed last week seeking to uphold county commissions’ legal obligation to certify election results. While it’s unclear if and when the court will take it up, a ruling could set a precedent and apply to county commissions across the state that refuse to certify results in November.

Aguilar had said the circumstances of last week’s vote could set a “dangerous precedent” that undermines voter confidence.

Shortly before Tuesday’s re-vote, County Deputy District Attorney Mary Kandaras recommended that commissioners certify the vote in accordance with state law.

Once considered a mundane and ministerial task, election certification has become a sticking point since the 2020 election. In the midterm elections two years later, a similar scenario to the current one played out in New Mexico after the Washoe County primary: a rural county delayed certifying the results and only relented when the Secretary of State appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Two Republican Washoe County commissioners, Jeanne Herman and Mike Clark, have consistently voted against certifying the results and are supported by the broader far-right movement within the county that is spreading conspiracy theories surrounding the election.

But on Tuesday, Clark apologized to his constituents before changing his vote in favor of certification, saying he cast his vote “under extreme pressure and under threat of both my position and criminal prosecution.” Throughout the meeting, he reiterated his distrust of the county’s election results and said the county needs to clean up its voter rolls.

Republican Clara Andriola, who was targeted by the far-right movement in the primaries, also changed course on Tuesday. She has often been the deciding vote in elections – she rejected the charge of voter abstention and thanked the county election board while claiming that several “problems” in the process have led to a need for more government agencies to review county election processes.

Andriola said that since voting against certification last week, she has met with the interim election commissioner, which has given her more confidence in the conduct of the election in Washoe County. She has also met with the district attorney’s office, who she said made it clear to her that it is the commission’s duty to certify election results without discretion.

The local far-right movement was clearly visible at the commission meetings. Conspiracy theories about voting machines and distrust of election officials were a regular feature of the commission’s public comment sessions and led to harassment and high staff turnover in the local election office over the past four years.

On Tuesday, most commentators called on the Election Commission not to certify the results. Some repeated false claims of voter fraud, broken voting machines and a “conspiracy” within the county to rig the election. Others called for a manual recount or a full rerun of the election.

One commenter printed out pictures of city and county employees she accused of corruption. Several times, Commission Chair Alexis Hill threatened to take a recess when public comments were interrupted or focused on denouncing individuals rather than the committee itself. Some commenters called on commissioners to certify the vote.

“Stand firm, stay the course. You showed backbone last week. Don’t let it bother you now,” said Bruce Parks before the vote. He is chairman of the Washoe GOP, which claims Joe Biden is the illegitimate winner of the 2020 election.

Gabe Stern, The Associated Press