LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Clark County election officials completed the recount for the Republican primary for governor. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo lost 8 votes and Joey Gilbert lost 7 votes in the county. Gilbert is footing almost $200,000 for this recount statewide.
The votes are being counted again. Clark County election workers are processing primary ballots for a recount in the Republican race for governor. Officials say the process has been smooth so far since the recount began Thursday morning.
"We've already had all of the Information from the in-person voting on the voting machines and now we're trying to finish up the mail.,” Joe Gloria, Clark County Registrar of Voters, said.
The statewide recount was requested by Gilbert who lost the nomination to Sheriff Lombardo. Gilbert called the election process "a broken system” and has refused to concede.
This statewide recount is being paid for by Gilbert at a cost of $191,000. Each county has until July 4 to complete their count. Gilbert lost the race by around 26,000 votes. Sondra Cosgrove, executive director of Vote Nevada, says don't expect the race to flip.
"When you're talking about 26 thousand votes and that's the gap you have to fill, it's likely not going to be successful,” she said.
Between 2000 and 2019, Ballotpedia shows only three race results in the United States have flipped due to a recount. The average vote swing in those races was around 390 votes.
The Gilbert campaign also wanted all ballots to be hand-counted but under Nevada state law, ballots being recounted must be counted the same way the votes were tabulated. In Clark County, machines do the counting.
"By statutory requirements, we just read the ballots in the same way we did for primary election night,” Gloria said.
Gilbert campaign consultant, Paul White says he doesn't expect the results to flip and blames Nevada law for denying the hand count. Cosgrove says in cases with a disappointed candidate, often the election process takes the blame but to change that process, she says people need to vote.
"That's where you can be influential if you disagree with the way the law is written.,” she said.
The Gilbert campaign says they intend to continue challenging the results as long as they can. The Clark County Commission is set to receive the canvass of the recount at a special meeting on July 7.
