Little change experienced as Washoe recount continues

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1998 | 11:17 a.m.

By this morning, Washoe County had recounted 50,000 of the estimated 90,000 votes cast in that county in the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev.

The changes in the votes for Reid and Ensign fluctuate as the counting proceeds. Washoe County Deputy Registrar Dan Burk said the changes so far are miniscule.

Completion of the recount in Washoe is expected Thursday.

Ensign asked for a statewide recount after losing the Nov. 3 race by 401 votes. The recount request was partially stimulated by vote-counting problems experienced by Washoe County. With the exception of Washoe County, the recount is complete.

In Clark County, the recount of nearly 255,000 ballots was finished by 10 a.m. Tuesday, after nine hours of work. The net effect was a one-vote gain for Reid.

Registrar of Voters Kathryn Ferguson credited the county's voting machines, which were first used countywide in 1996, with the smooth and expeditious process.

The mail-in ballots were 100 percent accurate and after all the ballots in the county were counted, a vote discrepancy of less than one-tenth of 1 percent was found.

Ferguson said if the vote deviation in the 40 precincts checked Monday had been 1 percent or greater, the county would have had to count all the ballots by hand.

"The process went great," Ferguson said. "The machine proved itself very well, as we knew it would."