‘We want transparency’: Vegas Realtors protest election results
More than 50 real estate agents showed up to the Las Vegas Realtors headquarters Thursday morning demanding an independent investigation and transparency into alleged election interference.
Multiple agents who are members of the largest real estate association in Nevada confirmed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that a motion was passed last week at a board meeting to suspend LVR Chief Executive Officer Wendy DiVecchio for 30 days due to allegations of interfering in the 2025 election of board officers and directors.
David Tina, who was one of the agents protesting, said they are asking for an independent investigation into the alleged incident and full transparency during the process.
“They promised an independent attorney to investigate, and it’s been one week and no one has been hired,” Tina said. “The discrepancy is (LVR) is saying the CEO looked at who was getting voted for and one person in particular, Stephanie Grant, and went back to the president-elect and President Merri Perry and told them you need to get out the vote so Stephanie Grant does not get in.”
LVR announced the election of new officers and board members on Aug. 7, with Joshua Campa named president for 2025 and Grant as vice president.
LVR President Merri Perry offered the following response to a request for comment regarding the protest.
“LVR is in the process of obtaining legal counsel in this matter and has no further comment at this time.”
Real estate agents want transparency
The Review-Journal obtained a copy of a memo emailed to LVR members Monday which stated the organization has launched an investigation into “allegations of election impropriety.” The memo didn’t name DiVecchio or go into detail on the allegations.
“On August 8, our LVR leadership team was notified of an allegation of abnormalities in the processes and procedures in administering last week’s election for the 2025 LVR Board of Directors,” the memo, which was emailed to LVR members Monday, stated. “Immediately after receiving these allegations, LVR President Merri Perry called for an emergency meeting of LVR’s Board of Directors, which was held Aug. 9 and reviewed findings relating to how the election was administered.”
Real estate agent Vandana Bhalla, who was at the protest, said they want “transparency” regarding the entire election process and alleged tampering. Bhalla said the real estate agents who showed up to the headquarters Thursday morning were instructed they could watch the board meeting via Zoom.
“We are essentially here because there have been some decisions that have been made in the boardroom related to members of our association that actually caused turmoil within our membership,” she said. “Our elections are probably the most sacred thing that we have.”
Yared Rivera, a real estate agent who was also at the protest, said they just want to get to the truth about the alleged election interference.
“If the allegations are not true, then let a third party not run by the board of directors do an investigation and either show us what really happened and clear everybody’s name, or tell us the truth about if there was any voter corruption. We just need the truth and we can’t let the board govern itself when they’re the ones being investigated.”
In March, a physical altercation broke out between two local real estate agents at a LVR Brokers Forum, ending with police being called to the scene.
The organization released a statement attributed to Perry that acknowledged the incident but did not name those involved.
“During the meeting, two of the Las Vegas Realtors members in attendance began to argue, leading to a verbal altercation. LVR leaders who were organizing the meeting tried to diffuse the situation and called LVR security to remove one of the members from the meeting. When the member continued to create a disturbance, LVR called the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, who eventually removed the person from the LVR building. There was no physical violence and no one was hurt. LVR remains committed to fostering an inclusive, positive and safe environment for its members and others, with safety being our top priority.”
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.