Recount underway of some Nevada presidential ballots cast Nov. 8

CARSON CITY — Recounting of presidential election ballots from select precincts around Nevada was underway Monday, but the final tally may not be released until late this week or early next, a state official said.

The preliminary recount was requested and paid for by Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente, an independent presidential candidate who came in last in Nevada’s Nov. 8 general election.

De La Fuente was entitled to select a sampling of 5 percent — or 93 — of Nevada’s precincts to be recounted. One precinct from Clark County was listed twice, meaning there will only be 92 tested.

“We started today at 8 a.m.,” Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said Monday. “We have about 25 employees working on the recount. We should be done by Friday, like we’re supposed to be,”

Kulin said election workers will retally presidential votes cast in 84 of the 1,118 precincts within the county.

Two precincts each in Carson City, Douglas, Mineral and Nye counties also are being sampled.

A spokeswoman in the Mineral County clerk’s office in Hawthorne said ballots there will be counted Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Nye County has already completed its tallying, while Carson City and Douglas County indicated they would be finished Monday, said Wayne Thorley, elections deputy for the secretary of state’s office.

“We’re not going to release any of the results until all the counties are done,” Thorley said.

In the election, De La Fuente received just 2,552 votes, or 0.23 percent of the vote, even trailing “None of these candidates.” Democratic contender Hillary Clinton won Nevada with 47.9 percent of the vote, beating Republican President-elect Donald Trump by a little more than 2 percentage points.

Under Nevada law, a statewide recount may be ordered if the sampling shows a deviation of 1 percent or more in votes received either by the person requesting the recount or the winner.

In De La Fuente’s case, he garnered 202 votes in the selected precincts, meaning it would take a deviation of only 3 votes to trigger a possible statewide recount.

But the law also gives the secretary of state discretion to determine if a statewide recount is warranted, especially if it’s unlikely to change the election outcome.

De La Fuente’s recount crusade in Nevada follows a similar effort by failed presidential Green Party candidate Jill Stein for recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

In a statement issued after formally requesting the recount last week, De La Fuente said he did not expect to win the Nevada contest but was concerned about the integrity of the vote.

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3821. Follow @SandraChereb on Twitter.