County Commission may reconsider District C election result
Las Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony’s campaign is seeking to prevent Clark County lawmakers from considering once more whether to certify the election results of the tightly contested commission race that Anthony lost by 10 votes.
The County Commission’s decision last month not to certify, because there were more identified discrepancies than the margin of victory, set the stage for a possible special election.
But the commission on Tuesday is now scheduled to potentially reconsider its Nov. 16 action, according to its meeting agenda.
“I wasn’t sure I made the right decision,” Commissioner Tick Segerblom explained in a brief phone interview this week.
Segerblom was one of six lawmakers on the all-Democratic commission who agreed not to certify. And he is the one who is requesting the board to reconsider, saying, “I think it’s worth having another discussion.”
In a preliminary injunction filed in District Court on Wednesday, however, a lawyer for Republican candidate Anthony is challenging the potential reversal.
Attorney Jacob A. Reynolds wrote in a filing that the commission “no longer has discretion on whether a new election should be held.” He also wrote that the meeting agenda item, placed prior to public comment, must not be allowed to proceed because it would violate open meeting law.
Miller goes to court
Anthony’s opponent, Democratic former Secretary of State Ross Miller, wants the race to be called.
Miller sued the commission the day after it opted not to certify results in the contest, alleging that the board acted “beyond its constitutional limitations.” Miller is seeking that the court certify the results and prevent county lawmakers from calling a special election.
Legal counsel for Miller and the county recently agreed that the county will not proceed with a special election until Miller’s court case is resolved.
In a statement, Anthony said the commission acted correctly from the beginning.
“It seems unusual and not fair that the Commission should now consider reversing their decision and ignoring the Nevada statutes that support their decision,” he said. “Fair and accurate voting is a priority and a new (election) is the only way to ensure those two criteria.”
A message left with Miller’s campaign manager was not immediately returned Wednesday.
In the tightest of four county Commission contests, Miller squeaked to victory by 10 votes. But county Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said his department identified 139 unexplained discrepancies — which occur routinely in elections — or some error in less than 0.1 percent of 153,000 votes cast.
With no way to remedy those discrepancies, Gloria said, the county could not be certain of the end result in only that race.
Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.
Anthony Preliminary Injunction by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd
