Recount results for Washoe County primary races delayed; requests filed to stop process

Updated with comments from Paul White.

The Washoe County Commission meeting set for early Tuesday morning to certify recount results in three primary races has been postponed a week.

Meanwhile, restraining orders were requested over a demand for hand recounts.

“We expected that with our full staffing we could get the recount done in a day, but we did not anticipate the overload on the scanners, which has slowed us down tremendously,” said county spokesperson Bethany Drysdale in an email Monday afternoon to media outlets.

“Due to the holiday and open meeting law requirements, Tuesday, July 9, will be the best day to conduct the canvass at the already-scheduled Board of County Commissioners meeting.”

She added that this will still be within the time limits allotted by Nevada law for a recount and meeting to review and approve the vote, called a canvass.

The recount is being done for three candidates: Lily Baran for Reno City Council Ward 1, Mark Lawson for Washoe County Commission District 4 and Paul White for Washoe County School Board Trustee District G.

Republican donor Robert Beadles is funding the recounts at a cost of about $50,000 each, or $150,000 total.

White and Lawson are registered Republicans, and Baran is a Democrat.

"The initial projection using the machines was going to be not even a full day Sunday, then that was doubled and they could not even tell me when it would be done," White told the RGJ. "Whose job is it to have a rough idea of how much work is required to do this – and how did they miss that badly?

Restraining orders sought to stop Washoe County primary recount

Requests for restraining orders were filed last week by the three candidates to stop the recount until a dispute over its “method and manner” can be determined. The candidates demand a hand recount.

The court filings for each are basically the same and also say, "There is significant reason to doubt the accuracy of the results certified on June 21, 2024” by the Washoe County Commission.

White said he didn't understand why a judge hasn't already ordered a hand recount.

"There's not that many ballots," he said. "If I'm the judge, I absolutely would go for a hand recount because I'd want people to stop accusing us of doing something illegal. But as long as the judges refuse to make it transparent, then we need the people questioning the ethics and integrity of that process."

In a response to the candidate requests, the state attorney general’s office and the Washoe County district attorney’s office filed their opposition. They write that a hand-count is inappropriate because, “For election recounts under Nevada law, ‘all ballots must be recounted in the same manner in which the ballots were originally tabulated.'”

Washoe County results were tabulated by machines. The two sides disagree over what "tabulated" means.

The attorney general and district attorney's response also offers counter arguments to concerns over accuracy.

In the opposition to Lawson's filing, they say he claims there's reason for doubt about the final tally because the county commission voted 3-2 to certify the results. "The source he cites," they write, "does not explain why two Commissioners voted against the canvass, and it provides Lawson no support."

Lawson's complaint says he has privacy concerns because signatures are on the outside of envelopes.

"A visible signature does not compromise voter privacy in voting; the contents of the ballot, and a voter’s candidate selections, are sealed in the mail ballot envelope," the response says. "Regardless, whether signatures are on the outside of mail ballot envelopes has no bearing on the accuracy of mechanical counts."

Lawson claimed Washoe County illegally tabulated votes before polls closed. Nevada law, the response says, states "mail ballot central counting boards may begin counting the received mail ballots 15 days before the day of the election."

And Lawson claims certain individuals were incorrectly identified as having voted when they submitted no ballot.

"Because this argument is, at best, hearsay, it is not admissible," the response says. "In any event, a voter’s vote history accessible through a website does not bear on the accuracy of mechanical counts."

The RGJ has reached out to the three candidates for comment.

White's hearing is scheduled for Wednesday before Judge Kathleen Drakulich, and Baran's on July 10 before Judge David Hardy. When Lawson's filing would be heard could not be confirmed as of Tuesday evening.

Mark Robison is the state politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal, with occasional forays into other topics. Email comments to mrobison@rgj.com or comment on Mark’s Greater Reno Facebook page .

This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: Recount results for Washoe County primary races delayed; requests filed to stop process