Clinton to wait on recount decision

Friday, Sept. 8, 2000 | 10:35 a.m.

Uri Clinton, who failed to force a runoff with longtime state Sen. Joe Neal by a scant six votes, said today he will wait for Tuesday's certification of the vote before deciding on whether to request a recount.

While ballots years ago were paper and human error could account for several counting mistakes, the bulk of the 112,000-plus ballots cast Tuesday were electronic and thus were counted by a computer from a tape -- a factor Clinton said must be given serious consideration.

"It is just a matter of a computer run then it is not worth spending the money," the 28-year-old attorney said. "And it would not be in the community's interest."

With nearly 12,300 votes mailed in -- some of which most likely involved the Democratic Senate District 4 primary -- there is some margin of potential human error.

Clinton said he will decide if that is sufficient enough after attending Tuesday's election certification by the Clark County Commission.

"I want to see if there is any practical probability of changing the outcome of the election," Clinton said.

In Tuesday's three-way race Neal, D-North Las Vegas, received only six votes more than the 50 percent plus one vote majority he needed to avoid a runoff with Clinton in the Nov. 7 general election.