RENO, Nevada – Commissioners in Nevada’s second-most populous county on Tuesday refused to certify the results of two local recounts of last month’s primary, a rare move that has potential implications for the presidential race in one of the nation’s most important swing states.
The three Republican members of the five-member Washoe County Board of Commissioners voted to reject the results of recounts in one race for a seat on the commission and another for a seat on the local school board. What happens next is unclear.
The county elections department and district attorney’s office declined to comment, as did the state attorney general. A request for comment from the Secretary of State was not immediately returned.
The rejection of the recounts and questions about how to handle it have raised concerns about what can happen in november if a local commission refused to certify the presidential election results.
Once seen as a mundane, ministerial task, electoral certification has become a pressure point since the 2020 elections. During the midterm elections two years later, a similar scenario to what is happening in Washoe County occurred in New Mexico after that state’s primary when a rural county delayed certifying the results and gave in only after the secretary of state appealed to the state supreme court.
The vote was first reported by KRNV-TV.
The certification impasse is the latest electoral controversy to shake up Washoe County, which includes Reno and its suburbs and has narrowly voted Democratic in the last two presidential contests. Conspiracy theories about voting machines and distrust of election administrators led to harassment and high turnover at the local election office for the past four years. They were also on display Tuesday during the commission meeting in downtown Reno.
Public comments were filed by residents who alleged election irregularities, demanded a manual count of votes and sometimes made false claims of stolen elections and a “conspiracy” within the county.
Against this backdrop and the rapid turnover of election staff, the county elections department also made some administrative errors, such as sending mail-in ballots to voters who chose not to receive them and incorrectly printing certain ballots local, although none that affect the count.
Two of the Republican commissioners, Jeanne Herman and Mike Clark, have consistently voted against certifying the results and are supported by the wider movement within the county that promotes election conspiracy theories. Republican Clara Andriola, who this movement is targeting in the primaries, joined them in voting against certifying the recounts, one of which involved the primary race she won.
“There is a lot of information shared that, in my opinion, deserves further investigation,” said Andriola, who had not previously voted against certifying the results. She referenced several election department “hiccups” and referenced public commentators who raised concerns.
She said she appreciated the county elections department but wanted to take the certification results to other government or judicial bodies. She acknowledged that it is not immediately clear what specific entity it will be.
The commission’s two Democratic members voted against rejecting the recount results, which changed just one vote in each of the two races. The council had already voted to certify the remaining primary races last month by a vote of 3-2, with Andriola voting in favor.
