Washoe County 2024 Primary Still Not Over

The 2024 Washoe County primary recounts will commence Friday, June 28, following recount requests by three candidates before the Wednesday, June 26 deadline.

The interim registrar, Cari-Ann Burgess, said the recount would happen over the weekend. According to Nevada Revised Statutes, the candidates who requested recounts are responsible for the costs if the recounts do not change the election results.

Mark Lawson, a Republican candidate for Washoe County Commission District 4, Paul White, a candidate for Washoe County School Board District G, and Lily Baran, a progressive activist who finished just 15 votes behind Frank Perez in the Reno City Council Ward 1 race, have all filed for recounts. Lawson and White, despite being behind by significant margins, also requested recounts.

Drew Ribar, who lost to incumbent Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill in the Republican primary for District 40, has filed a petition for a new election with the Nevada Supreme Court. Ribar argues that his exclusion from the sample ballot distributed to Washoe County voters severely impacted his chances due to lack of name recognition. Ribar, who lost by over 50 percentage points, called for the county to redo the election, citing concerns about “election interference.”

Meanwhile, a renewed debate over election methods emerged as Former Nye County clerk Mark Kampf, invited by Commissioner Clara Andriola, who oversaw hand counts in 2022, presented the benefits and challenges of hand-counting paper ballots to county commissioners. The discussion sparked sharp reactions from public commenters. Some criticized the idea as impractical and prone to error, while others argued that hand-counting paper ballots would increase voter confidence.

Washoe County voting machines automatically digitally record and print a physical copy of each ballot cast.

Andriola did not explicitly support a transition to hand counting but advocated for auditing results by hand with a small sample.

“There’s nothing statutorily in place right now that would prevent that self-audit,” she said.

The Nevada Secretary of State mandates risk-limiting audits of elections. A spokesperson explained that post-election tabulation audits use a random sampling of paper ballots to ensure the accuracy of election outcomes.