Registrar reports ‘cleanest election’ to county leaders

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998 | 11:26 a.m.

"Our county auditor said it was the cleanest election to date," said Kathryn Ferguson, the county's registrar of voters. "It shows our training program has been vastly improved."

Ferguson said that of the 257,601 ballots cast in 807 precincts, only 82 were unreconciled because people who registered may have left without voting or people voted without signing the register.

Those ballots will not have an effect on the U.S. Senate race in which Sen. Harry Reid received a 459-vote edge over Rep. John Ensign. A recount of 15,000 ballots in Washoe County has been ordered in that race.

"It doesn't have an effect on that," Ferguson said. "You can't eliminate human error from the process."

"Every single election has these types of things," said Tom Warden, spokesman for county. "It was only a handful of votes, but none had a remote possibility with changing the outcome of the elections."

The 10-minute special County Commission meeting is required by law so the registrar can canvass returns with board members within five days of the election.