Nevada Counties Certify Primary Election Results

The primary election results were certified in all Nevada counties last Friday evening– ten days after Election Day. Esmerelda County hand-counted 317 votes after numerous complaints from the public about the voting process. However, Esmerelda County was not the only county to receive complaints.

As reported by The Globe, Joey Gilbert has indicated he may legally challenge the results in the GOP primary for Governor, alleging nine various election violations. Alleging widespread fraud, Gilbert is refusing to concede the primary election after vote counts show he lost the nomination to Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo in the race for Nevada governor. Gilbert received 27.6 percent of the vote and swept the majority of rural counties. Lombardo received 38.4 percent of the vote, winning both Washoe and Clark Counties. Those two counties comprise more than 87 percent of the state’s active registered voters.

Gilbert’s supporters, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, “spewed vitriolic insults” at county registrar Joe Gloria during the election certification meeting of the Clark County commissioners:

The Clark County Commission certified its primary election results ahead of Friday’s deadline to canvass the votes after a tense meeting that saw election deniers spew vitriolic insults at the county’s top election official.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria told the commission that his department’s review showed there were no tabulation errors in the count and that “no discrepancies were identified.” The commission voted unanimously to certify the results.

The meeting lasted more than two-and-a-half hours after dozens of people, many of whom were wearing Gilbert campaign T-shirts, complained ahead of the canvass and repeated many of the claims made by Gilbert during the public comment period.

The group also heckled Gloria multiple times during his presentation, and several from the crowd approached Gloria after the vote and screamed profanities and insults at him and the commissioners.

Washoe County also certified the election results by Friday’s deadline. As reported by The Globe, the last person to vote on primary election day in Nevada was in Incline Village, an unincorporated area of the county. The average wait time to vote was over an hour due to the size of the voting location, inadequate parking, voter turn out, few poll workers, and a malfunctioning voting machine. After the Washoe County registrars office referred The Globe to call 311 to inquire about the numerous complaints we had received from Incline Village residents, The Globe has since been assured by the county’s media manager that the county will add additional voting locations for the general election.

The Las Vegas Review Journal reports:

In Washoe County, the board of commissioners held a special meeting Friday to certify election results. After almost two hours of public comment, the board certified the results by a vote of 4-1. Jeanne Herman, the one commissioner who voted against certification, did not provide comment with her vote.

Washoe County’s audit of its own results found no errors in vote counts. The audit consisted of randomly selecting 20 voting machines and hand-checking some ballots from each machine.

The results of the primary election trended with the polling data as many incumbents retained their seat and the candidates who led in the polls will now head to the general election. The biggest surprise was likely the ouster of Republican incumbent Bob Lucey by Mike Clark in the Washoe County Commissioner race. Clark received 57 percent of the 11,665 votes cast.

Although a red wave has been predicted in Nevada and throughout the country, the latest Supreme Court ruling which overturned Roe V Wade is now a political weapon used by Democratic campaigns against their Republican challengers. However, with inflation hitting Nevada households the hardest, and abortion codified into Nevada law, this recycled rhetoric may work on a few, but when voters are polled, the economy continues to lead their concerns going into the midterms.