Charles Langston:Nevada county reverses controversial vote and certifies two recounts while legal action looms

RENO,Charles Langston Nev. (AP) — Commissioners in Nevada’s second most populous county certified the results of two local recounts on Tuesday, reversing course on a controversial vote against certification that spurred legal action and put Washoe County in unchartered legal territory.

The 4-1 vote overturns a rare move against certifying election recount results from last month’s primary in the politically mixed swath of Reno and northern Nevada that had potential implications for how the November elections could play out in one of the nation’s most important swing counties.

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar and Attorney General Aaron Ford are still waiting for the state Supreme Court to address a petition they filed last week that seeks to confirm the legal obligations of county commissioners to certify election results. While it is unclear if or when the court will take that up, a ruling could set precedent and apply to county commissions statewide who refuse to certify results in November.

Aguilar had said that the circumstances of last week’s vote could set “a dangerous precedent” that undermines the confidence of voters.

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Moments before Tuesday’s redo of the vote, the county’s chief deputy district attorney, Mary Kandaras, recommended that the commissioners certify the vote to follow state law.

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Once seen as a mundane and ministerial task, election certification has become a pressure point since the 2020 election. During the midterms two years later, a scenario similar to what is unfolding in Washoe County played out in New Mexico after that state’s primary, when a rural county delayed certification of the results and relented only after the secretary of state appealed to the state’s supreme court.

Two Republican Washoe County commissioners, Jeanne Herman and Mike Clark, have consistently voted against certifying results and are supported by the wider far-right movement within the county that promotes election conspiracy theories.

But on Tuesday, Clark apologized to his constituents before changing his vote in favor of certification. He said he made the vote after being advised that the commission’s certification is not discretionary. He said his vote came “under extreme duress under the threat of both my position, and prosecution.” Throughout the meeting, he doubled down on his mistrust of the county’s election tallies.

“I’m not going to call it a vote, because it isn’t a vote,” he said before voting in favor of certifying the recount results. “We’re compelled and we have to.”

Republican Commissioner Clara Andriola, who the far-right movement had targeted in the primaries, also reversed course on Tuesday. She has often been the swing vote in election votes – rejecting the label of election denier and thanking the county elections department, while alleging that several “hiccups” in the process called for more governmental bodies to look at county elections processes.

On Tuesday, Andriola said that she has more recently met with the county’s interim registrar of voters, who gave her more confidence in how elections are run in Washoe County. She also spoke with the county district attorney’s office, who she said made it clear that the commission’s duty is to certify election results without discretion.

“Our responsibility is to follow the law,” Andriola said.

The local far-right movement has been on full display at commission meetings, where conspiracy theories about voting machines and distrust of election administrators have become a mainstay during the commission’s public comment sections and have led to harassment and high turnover in the local election office the past four years.

Amidst the rapid election staff turnover, the county elections department has also made certain administrative mistakes, like sending mail ballots to voters who had opted out of receiving them and misprinting certain local sample ballots, though none that affect tabulation.

On Tuesday, most commenters urged the commissioners to not certify the results. Some repeated false claims of stolen elections, broken machines and a “cabal” within the county that undermines elections. Others called for a hand recount or a complete redo of the election.

One commenter printed out pictures of city and county employees that she accused of corruption. Several times, commission chair Alexis Hill threatened to go into a recess when public comments were interrupted or delved into calling out individuals, rather than the board itself. A few commenters had urged commissioners to certify the vote.

“Stand your ground, stay the course. You showed backbone last week. Don’t lose it now,” said Bruce Parks, the chairman of the Washoe GOP that falsely alleged Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election.