Recall petition keeps election workers busy

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 1998 | 10:47 a.m.

Weary from a hectic primary elections week, employees with the Clark County registrar's office returned this week to an all-too-familiar task -- counting recall signatures.

County Registrar Kathryn Ferguson said Tuesday her office is in the middle of confirming that 4,709 signatures were indeed listed on a petition to recall Clark County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates.

The petition was submitted Friday by the Citizens for Honest and Responsible Government (CHARGE). It needs 4,380 valid signatures to force a special election.

"If during the raw count we find the number of signatures insufficient, that's the end of the process," Ferguson said.

It is the group's second effort to recall Gates, who was recently reprimanded by the state Ethics Commission for her involvement in selecting concessionaires for McCarran International Airport's new D gates.

The Ethics Commission said Gates used her position to help out acquaintances trying to secure space in the airport's new wing.

If registrar employees count more than 4,380 signatures, the petition will be forwarded to Secretary of State Dean Heller. Once the count is confirmed, the county will test 500 signatures. Based on the secretary of state's formula, if 353 of the 500 signatures are valid, a recall election will be held.

CHARGE members blamed the company they hired last spring for their failed attempt to recall the commissioner.

Gates said last month that some of the addresses listed on the petition were actually vacant lots and at least one signature was that of a deceased person.

Last month, she turned in 604 cards with the names of people who said they wanted their names off the recall petition.

CHARGE members said the second effort was better organized. Rather than hiring strangers to solicit signatures, individuals in the group were trained and did it themselves.

While CHARGE members said they followed the rules, Ferguson said her office received complaints from people who claimed they were confronted at polling places during Tuesday's primary elections.

The petitioners are not allowed within 100 feet of the polling place.

"In some cases, they weren't," said Ferguson, adding she only heard petitioners had broken the law from callers. "When we got complaints, we sent staff out there."