Ensign pins fading recount hopes on Washoe

Monday, Dec. 7, 1998 | 11:08 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- With his chances of overtaking Sen. Harry Reid fading fast, Rep. John Ensign pinned his election recount hopes today on Washoe County, which experienced major problems in reaching a final tally.

With recounts in at least 12 of Nevada's 17 counties completed, Reid has maintained his 401-vote lead and may have increased it by one vote.

"We've known all along the recount would not change the results of the election and that's what we're starting to see," Reid said Saturday. "There hasn't been any significant changes in the numbers."

A recount in a statewide general election has never changed the outcome in Nevada history.

The senator picked up one vote in the counties that have finished their recount, said Jenny Backus, communications director for Reid.

Mike Slanker, campaign manager for Ensign, said Sunday it's "been a wash" in the rural counties so far.

"It's all about Washoe County," said Slanker. "There are enough pieces of evidence, anecdotal stories and real stories that there are easily over 400 ballots sitting around. It's a matter of who they go for."

The recount must be completed by the Friday. If Ensign fails to overtake Reid, it's unlikely the two-term Republican congressman will take his case to the U.S. Senate, said Jack Finn, his press secretary.

"We're not closing that door but he (Ensign) probably will not take it to the U.S. Senate," Finn said. "We're focusing now on the recount."

Washoe, Clark and Mineral counties begin counting today. Lyon County begins a full count of all the ballots today after Libertarian Michael Cloud picked up enough votes to create a 1 percent discrepancy.

Five percent of the precincts in each county must be counted by hand and then by the computer. Secretary of State Dean Heller has ordered that If there is a 1 percent difference from the certified vote in any candidate's total, than all of the ballots must be counted by hand.

That is what Ensign's camp is hoping for in Washoe County. "I think we are going to get a hand count," Slanker said.

Problems in this election centered in Washoe County, where nearly 6,000 ballots were misprinted or misshaped, which prevented a correct reading from the computer. After the election, they had to be counted by hand.

Adding to the confusion in Washoe County, the defective ballots must be duplicated and put on new ballots, a precaution ordered by Heller. That has angered Republicans, who claim the same ballots should be used in the recount, both in the hand and computer tally.

They filed suit last week to prevent the duplication, but District Judge Mike Griffin of Carson City denied their petition. Attorneys initially said they would appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court but later changed their minds.

"Dean Heller's dead wrong in his decision to duplicate the ballots," Finn said. "But at this point, we want to get the recount completed and move forward under the guidelines we've been given."

If Republicans can convince the Washoe County Commission there's enough uncertainty about the accuracy of the vote, the commission can call for a new election, Crowell said. It happened in Clark County in 1996 in an Assembly district.

In Clark County, Voter Registrar Kathryn Ferguson said she will have six teams doing the recount and should be completed either by Tuesday evening or early Wednesday. Ferguson said Ensign forces have selected all the mailing precincts to be recounted. That's where the Ensign people feel "there is the greatest chance of a discrepancy," Ferguson said.