In a 3-2 Vote, Washoe County Commission Rejects Certification of Primary Election Recounts

This post has been updated with breaking news.

In a politically divided 3-2 vote, the Republican members of the Washoe County Board of Commissioners voted to not certify the two primary recounts conducted by the Washoe County Registrar’s office. The two races were challenged by Washoe County Commissioner District 4 candidate Mark Lawson and Washoe County School Board Trustee District 5 candidate Paul White. The recounts were funded by businessman Robert Beadles through his Franklin Project PAC.

During the challenge, the candidates demanded a hand recount of the primary ballots and filed temporary restraining orders against numerous individuals and state entities, including the City of Reno, Washoe County, and the Washoe County Registrars office (ROV). Ultimately, the recount in each race was not conducted by hand and the ROV’s findings did not change the outcome of the June primary for Lawson and White. Per Nevada statute, “All ballots must be recounted in the same manner in which the ballots were originally tabulated.”

Commissioner Clara Andriola, who was challenged in the primary by Lawson, voted against the certification noting that the county has had some “mishaps.” Andriola stated, “Given the fact that it’s not the first time that we’ve heard a lot of concerns of procedures, a lot of concerns of alleged mishaps, I think have been a term that’s been used a lot or hiccups … I am not going to certify the vote. I believe that it warrants further investigation.”

Referencing recent election violation reports filed within the county, Andriola added, “I’m not an election denier. It’s really to look at the investigative part of the allegations, that in this case, what has formally been filed and I don’t know how many others have formally been filed.”

Her republican colleagues on the board, Jeanne Herman and Mike Clark, also voted against the certification. The certification is now in the hands of the Nevada Secretary of State.

In response to their unified vote, Beadles proclaimed victory, stating on social media, “We won a battle.”

We won a battle…..

Today was a victory, well-deserved, and well earned for the people of Washoe County and the candidates! It’s all due to God, and all of you who wrote or showed up, spoke truth to power. Thank you.https://t.co/uigRr0zDKs#reno #GladiatorII #Nevada #recount…

— RobertBeadles (@RobertBeadles) July 9, 2024

Beadles is now demanding a new primary election after a “study found that Democrat and Non-Partisan mail-in ballots were counted much faster than Republican mail-in ballots, acting almost as one combined group….processing times of Democrat and Non-Partisan mail-in ballots were almost identical, which is highly unusual.”

Beadles contends that the statistical probability of the processing times is an anomaly, warrants an investigation, and necessitates a new primary election.

The three republican commissioners have outwardly supported voter ID and related election integrity legislation proposed by Governor Joe Lombardo and republican lawmakers. Although numerous bills were introduced during the last legislative session, the Democratic majority refused to provide hearings as the bills were deemed “dead on arrival” by Speaker of the Assembly Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas).

Last month, Repair the Vote PAC announced that they submitted 179,000 signatures in support of a voter ID ballot initiative, surpassing the required 102,362 threshold. The signatures now await verification by the Secretary of State. If verified, the initiative will appear on the ballot in November’s general election.

Update: Commissioner Clara Andriola has requested that the count results be reconsidered and a vote will be taken at next Tuesday’s board meeting.