Washoe County reverses vote, certifies 2 recounts as legal action looms

RENO — 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 decision overturns last week’s vote against certifying election recount results from June’s primary in the politically mixed swath of northern Nevada, which includes Reno. The rare move 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.

“We are happy that the election results are now certified, but this must not happen again in November,” All Voting is Local Nevada State Director Kerry Durmick said in a statement released Tuesday night.

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.

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 that 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 recounts. “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.

“Today, Commissioner Clark only committed to certifying to avoid legal consequences,” Durmick said in the statement. “Commissioner Andriola’s vote shocked us last week, and, to be honest, we are totally disappointed that she would join them in an attempt to block voters and break the law.”

Durmick said that the board of commissioners ought to have completed the certification process last week, and that the organization will “continue pushing back against any election sabotage attempts at every turn.”

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.

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

— Review-Journal staff writer Estelle Atkinson contributed to this report.