BY IVAN PENTCHOUKOV
Nevada’s Clark County on Monday tossed the results of a local election after a canvass unearthed 139 discrepancies in a district on a razor edge.
“We have found discrepancies that we can’t explain that would cast a doubt on whether or not that margin of victory is solid,” Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria said of District C during a meeting convened to certify the county’s election results.
While discrepancies are common—Gloria said the canvass identified a total of 936 discrepancies throughout the county—the county declined to certify the results for the race for the District C commissioner because the margin between the two candidates was just 10 votes. As a result, the discrepancies “could affect the outcome of the election,” Gloria said.
“That’s the only race in the entire election we have any concern related to the outcome. And it’s because of the margin,” Gloria said.
The county said it has certified the results of all the other elections, including the contested presidential race.
President Donald Trump hailed the tossed race as a victory for his campaign.
“Big victory moments ago in the State of Nevada. The all Democrat County Commissioner race, on same ballot as President, just thrown out because of large scale voter discrepancy. Clark County officials do not have confidence in their own election security. Major impact!” the president wrote on Twitter.
Adam Laxalt, an attorney with Trump’s legal team in Nevada, noted that the tossed election had 153,000 votes cast.
“The Clark County Commission just threw out an election that represents almost 1/6 of the total votes cast in Clark County because there were too many ‘discrepancies’ to be sure that that the results in that election can be certain,” Laxalt wrote on Twitter.
The Trump campaign has not filed a formal legal challenge in Nevada. A third-party lawsuit filed in Nevada, which had several of its allegations promoted by the campaign, seeks to change the signature verification procedures used for processing ballots. The plaintiffs include the congressional campaigns of two Nevada Republicans and a voter. On Nov. 6, a federal judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order to block the use of the signature verification machine.
The commission did not decide on a course of action concerning the District C race and will review options for a potential special election on Dec. 1.
Janita Kan contributed to this report.
