Count of recall petition begins

Erin Neff

Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000 | 11:30 a.m.

The Clark County Registrar's office has begun a raw count of signatures on a petition to recall Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald.

Registrar Larry Lomax said his office has four business days to conduct a raw count of the petition. Thus by Monday, his office will report to Secretary of State Dean Heller whether the petition has enough signatures to proceed to the next step.

If the petition does have 2,995 signatures, the county registrar's office will then conduct a random sample of 500 of the signatures to determine validity.

Clerks will check the signatures against county voter registration records to make sure the signer is registered to vote in and lives in McDonald's Ward 1.

The percentage of legitimate signatures in the sample will be multiplied by the total amount of signatures turned in. If the number is more than 2,995, the registrar's office will submit its findings to Heller's office.

If the total percentage of valid signatures falls between 90 and 100 percent, the registrar's office will check every signature's validity -- not just those in the random sample.

If the random sample shows fewer than 90 percent of the signatures are valid, the petition will fail.

The county registrar's office has nine business days after the secretary of state's office orders a verification, to conduct that process.

If Heller accepts the registrar's findings, he will order Las Vegas City Clerk Roni Ronemus to set a date for a special election. She must set the date between 10 days and 20 days after being ordered to do so to allow enough time for a contest period.

McDonald has five days to appeal the decision to the secretary of state. He also can sue in District Court in an attempt to invalidate the petition. If McDonald does not contest the petition, Ronemus will set a date for a special election to be conducted within 30 days.

The city will have to pay for the cost of the election, including the mailing of sample ballots and absentee and early-voting provisions.

Anyone who wishes to appear on the ballot against McDonald has to turn in a nominating petition 20 days before the election.

State Assemblywoman Merle Berman is the only Ward 1 resident known to be circulating such a petition. Former City Councilman Steve Miller has dropped his nominating petition effort.