Cherchio questions vote by North Las Vegas mayor’s son

The latest twist in a tangled North Las Vegas election tale involves both a union stagehand who voted in the city but doesn't live there and the mayor's son.

Voter Greg Mich'l, who lives in Las Vegas, admitted Thursday he voted in the North Las Vegas contest between incumbent Councilman Richard Cherchio and Wade Wagner, which was decided by a single vote.

Mich'l, 26, said he didn't know he couldn't vote in North Las Vegas.

"I'm really embarrassed," he said. "I never vote, and then this happens."

Meanwhile, Cherchio's attorney on Thursday said Jordan Buck, Mayor Shari Buck's 23-year-old-son, might have cast an invalid ballot.

"There's substantial question about whether he has the right to vote here," Bradley Schrager said. "We are investigating every potential discrepancy."

Wagner, a 48-year-old dentist, won the June 7 election with 1,831 votes. Cherchio got 1,830.

The mayor, who endorsed Wagner and whose husband was his campaign manager, called the allegation about her son "disgusting and despicable."

"This is a witch hunt," she said. "I've never seen this type of harassment in a voting situation. It's disturbing."

Cherchio, 64, filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the election, calling the results "legally uncertain" because an official allowed a voter to cast a ballot in the wrong ward on election night. That voter was registered to vote in North Las Vegas, but not in Ward 4.

In addition to the ineligible election-night voter, the lawsuit refers to "at least two other voters" who "upon information and belief ... were permitted to cast invalid ballots" in the race. The lawsuit asks the court to set aside the election results and declare the Ward 4 seat vacant.

The lawsuit doesn't name the two other voters. One is Mich'l. The other is Jordan Buck, who is registered to vote in two states and who Cherchio's camp says might have been ineligible to cast a vote in the city.

Mich'l, who lives on Villa Pintura Avenue in Las Vegas, spends a lot of time at his brother's North Las Vegas home, near Wagner's. Mich'l was working in his brother's garage one day when someone from Wagner's campaign -- it might have been Wagner himself, he wasn't sure -- approached and asked whether Mich'l was registered to vote.

"I said, 'No,' and he had the forms there," Mich'l said. "I didn't give it much thought. Then the ballot came in the mail, and I didn't give it much thought."

Mich'l marked his vote for Wagner and sent the ballot off. He supported Wagner because "he lives in the same neighborhood as my brother, and I know a lot of people who are friends" with Wagner.

Mich'l later saw news reports saying that Wagner had won by a single vote and that an ineligible voter had mistakenly cast a ballot in the wrong ward.

Mich'l assumed that voter was him.

"I wasn't sure where to go or what to do. This has been stressful. You just believe they would catch mistakes. You wouldn't believe anything could get this far when they're monitoring it so close."

Cherchio's representatives have been scouring voter records for any irregularities to support their election challenge. They discovered that Jordan Buck, who attends college in Provo, Utah, cast an absentee ballot in the Ward 4 contest. He is registered to vote in North Las Vegas but also registered to vote in Provo . But Buck has not voted there, said Larry Lomax, Clark County registrar of voters.

"It's not illegal to be registered to vote in more than one location," he said. "If it were, half the country would be in jail."

That's because most people don't notify election officials when they move away, Lomax said.

It would be illegal for Buck to vote in two locations, though. And it is illegal for someone to vote where they don't live.

Under Nevada law, college students can vote from either their college address or their home address.

"They can keep their registration here because they come back here," Lomax said. He added that "you almost always have to leave these residency things up to a court, where each side will have their arguments."

Lomax and election officials in Provo each sent Jordan Buck a letter this week asking him to specify where he wants to be registered to vote, Lomax said.

Buck registered in Provo via a form from the Department of Motor Vehicles there, Lomax said. "He may have just checked 'yes' on a box."

The mayor said her son "has never voted anywhere but here" and wasn't aware that he was registered in Provo.

"It's despicable that Cherchio's campaign would stoop to bringing my kids and Wade's kids into this," she said.

Wagner faced questions this week about 10 adults registered to vote at his five-bedroom North Las Vegas home.

Wagner did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday or Thursday. When Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith asked him earlier how many people were registered at his home, Wagner replied, "That's a good question. I know all my kids are. This is their home. This is where they're all registered. That's where they vote from."

Wagner and his wife have eight children.

Schrager said he has no evidence that anyone there voted improperly. But, again, "we are investigating all potential discrepancies," he said.

A recount last week, requested by Cherchio, came up with the same results as on election night. The City Council canvassed the recount results Thursday as Wagner and Buck recused themselves .

Wagner's one-vote victory was just the beginning of the drama in the Ward 4 race.

The City Council approved a redo of the election in one precinct after officials discovered that an ineligible voter had cast a ballot there. But a judge barred the city from holding a new election and ordered the council to certify the original election results. Another judge then temporarily prohibited the city from presenting Wagner with an election certificate. The legal challenges were resolved early last week, and Wagner was sworn in. Then came the recount, for which Cherchio paid $600.

Cherchio blamed his loss on police and firefighter unions, who campaigned against him after he supported cuts to public safety to save money in the cash-strapped city.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.