Seniors group challenges Ward 4 election results

Geoff Schumacher

Tuesday, June 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A seniors group and a city voter have filed a legal challenge of Larry Brown's narrow victory over Las Vegas Councilman Matthew Callister in the June 3 election.

Don Fuller, vice president of the nonprofit Nevada State Council of Senior Citizens, submitted papers Monday to the Nevada Supreme Court questioning whether 406 voters in part of Ward 4 should have been allowed to cast ballots.

Fuller, who declined to reveal how he voted, said he contested the outcome because he felt the people in the disputed area should not have gone to the polls.

"It's basically nothing to do with the election, it's to straighten out the problem the council should have handled before the election," Fuller said.

The disputed voters live in a 350-acre area north of Cheyenne Avenue that was annexed by the city in 1993. After a homeowner filed suit, the Supreme Court ruled that the annexation was done improperly and the case has been sent back to the District Court for reconsideration.

Callister lost to Brown by 63 votes.

When the election was certified last week, Mayor Jan Laverty Jones and others criticized City Attorney Brad Jerbic for not informing them of the April 24 ruling so they could consider whether to eliminate those voters from the election.

But Jerbic argued that until the case is fully adjudicated, the disputed voters are city residents and there is no legal issue.

Dalton Wellman, president of the 2,000-member state seniors group, disagreed, noting that the Supreme Court ruling said the annexation was "void on inception." He said the intention of the petition is to clean up the election process.

"We don't give a damn who wins or loses," he said. "We just think that you better start someplace cleaning these things up."

Wellman said his group fears that low voter turnout is linked to people's beliefs that elections are corrupt.

"It seems like most people have the idea that things are rigged in every election," he said. "This particular election, to our thinking, needed to be cleaned up.

"Somebody dropped the ball, didn't realize the consequences (of allowing the annexed voters to participate)."

Wellman said five attorneys offered to handle the case pro bono.

The challenge came to light on the same day Callister reported that he had decided not to contest the election.

"I believe that to challenge the election of Larry Brown at this time would be destructive to the democratic process and weaken the city of Las Vegas at a crucial moment in its evolution," Callister said Monday in a written statement.

Brown said he was "pleased that Matthew agrees with me that this was a fair and legal election process."

But Brown suspected last week that the election would be challenged by Callister or someone else. He criticized the court petition as taking "the vote of the people away from them."