Washoe County primary: Judge hears arguments for, against hand recount in Paul White case

An effort to force a hand recount of Washoe County primary election votes is currently in a judge’s hands.

School board candidate Paul White seeks court intervention because he contends he was harmed, according to his complaint, "based upon the distinct and documented possibility of the voting machines used to calculate vote totals do not accurately reflect the number of votes cast.”

Only vague allegations – but no evidence – have been presented to suggest any concerns related to the election’s integrity, the Nevada attorney general’s counsel said in court.

Candidates Mark Lawson for Washoe County Commission and Lily Baran for Reno City Council filed nearly identical lawsuits to White’s.

If successful, the demand for a hand recount would accomplish what Republican provocateur Robert Beadles tried to do in a 2023 lawsuit when he sought to have his election grievances heard and force paper ballots with hand counting. It was rejected by the courts .

Beadles paid the county about $150,000 for the three recounts on behalf of the candidates. It’s not clear whether he’s paying their attorney costs, too.

The case for a hand recount

Mark Hutchings, the attorney in the three lawsuits, made a number of claims Wednesday in Washoe County District Court before Judge Kathleen Drakulich, with two getting particular attention:

• A hand recount is needed.
• The paper printouts on the sides of voting machines should be used to recount votes cast on machines.

This second claim refers to the Voter-Verified Paper Trail, or VV-PAT, where voters can check to see if their vote matches what the machine recorded.

Hutchings said plugging a thumb drive from a voting machine into a tabulation computer is not a recount.

“That's just checking the electronic data to verify that the number is still the same as it was on election day,” he said. “We don't think it’s permissible or allowed by law to simply plug the thumb drives in to check the numbers.”

To recount the votes from voting machines, Hutchings proposed putting the VV-PAT receipts through an optical scanner.

State law requires the paper printouts to be kept in a secure vault by the county.

“I don’t know why that statute would exist unless, in the event of a recount, it was contemplated the VV-PAT receipts would be used for a recount,” he said.

Hutchings added that a hand recount would create greater credibility for the election system and pointed to the county’s delay in completing the recount while using machines.

The case against a hand recount

Laena St-Jules of the Nevada attorney general’s office delivered the main opposition to Hutchings.

Attorney General Aaron Ford, his office, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, his office, Washoe County and three of its officials are named in the lawsuits, as well as potential unnamed individuals and businesses.

St-Jules cited Nevada law on election recounts. It states they must be conducted in the same manner in which the ballots were originally counted.

“Because there was no hand count for the original count for the elections at issue here, there can be no hand count for the recount either,” she said.

She noted that the machines that tabulate the ballots also inspect ballots to make sure they are marked in compliance with state law, which is no different from what a hand inspection would do.

As for the VV-PAT paper printouts, St-Jules cited state law saying they can only be inspected in the case of a contested election, not a recount.

What’s next?

Drakulich said she will try to make a decision as quickly as she can.

That could happen in the next few days. No decision had been posted as of Friday afternoon.

A recount was completed late Tuesday with no election winners changed and only a handful of votes different from the original election tally.

The Washoe County Commission will vote to approve the recount results Tuesday.

Although there’s been talk of consolidating the cases, a hearing on Lawson’s complaint is scheduled for July 16 with Judge Kathleen Sigurdson.

Baran’s hearing was taken off the court calendar. She had asked the county to stop her recount and then tried to rescind her request . Nevada election rules say a candidate cannot take back such a request or seek a new recount.

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: Washoe County primary: Judge hears arguments for, against hand recount in Paul White case