Judge blocks revote in North Las Vegas race

A judge on Thursday temporarily derailed North Las Vegas's plans to schedule a new election in a disputed City Council race.

The council was supposed to set the date for a revote in one Ward 4 precinct during a special meeting because an ineligible voter cast a ballot. Dentist Wade Wagner defeated incumbent Councilman Richard Cherchio by a single vote in the Ward 4 race.

Minutes before Thursday's meeting began, District Judge Allan Earl granted a temporary restraining order that prohibited the council from proceeding.

The order stopped the city from "preparing or conducting a new election in Ward 4," Sandra Douglass Morgan, deputy city attorney, said. "I do not think we can go forward."

The judge set a hearing on a preliminary injunction in the matter for Tuesday.

Former Mayor Michael Montandon and Jay King, both Ward 4 residents, filed the motion for the restraining order. The motion argued that the council violated Nevada's open meeting law last week when it approved a new election though that possibility was not listed on the meeting's agenda.

"The council must list what potential actions are to be taken," said Mark Hutchison, an attorney for Montandon and King. "They can discuss anything, but they have to say what they are going to discuss."

The June 15 agenda item indicated only that the council would consider a "canvass of the June 7, 2011 municipal general election results."

Another section of the item lists a "recommendation" that the council "canvass the results" of the election and "certify the results."

The council certified the results of the city's other two races but decided to redo the Ward 4 vote in precinct 4306, the precinct in which an ineligible voter was allowed to cast a ballot on election night.

Montandon, a resident of the precinct, said filing the motion "was the quickest way" to stop a new election.

"We had to get them to stop somehow," he said. "You don't redo elections. The elections are decided on election day."

Montandon said he thinks the council's only legitimate options were to either certify the election or demand a recount.

Montandon is a Wagner supporter but said he doesn't know the candidate well: "I'm not friends with him, but I respect him."

After the abridged meeting, Cherchio said he was surprised and disappointed by the turn of events.

"This process needed to go forward for the sake of the residents," he said. "It looks more as a reason to delay a process than anything else. I think it's wrong."

Term-limited Councilman William Robinson, who leaves office at the end of the month after nearly 30 years on the council, said he was "mad as hell" at the situation.

Robinson noted that the city redid part of a primary election in 1999 after voting mistakes were found.

Mayor Shari Buck did not attend the meeting and could not be reached late Thursday.

Earlier this week, Wagner filed his own lawsuit against the city and four council members over the decision to order a new election.

Wagner won the election "but is being deprived of the office due to the unlawful actions of partisan City Council members who claim the power to void lawful votes because their preferred candidate lost," that complaint said.

It asked the court to order the city to certify the original election and to stop the city from going forward with a new one. The city has 45 days to respond.

Wagner won the race with 1,831 votes versus Cherchio's 1,830.

Cherchio will be relieved of his duties on the council July 1, leaving four members until the election is resolved.

Precinct 4306 runs from Cheyenne Avenue to Alexander Road and from Revere Street to approximately Interstate 15. Only 110 people in the precinct voted. But if a revote is held, all 1,248 eligible voters can cast ballots.

While he lost the election, Cherchio won in that precinct 56 to 54.

The problem arose after a voter who was registered in another ward was allowed to vote there because he had moved into the precinct.

Officials don't know who the ineligible vote was for because, once ballots are cast, they are mixed and can't be traced back to a specific voter.

The contest between Cherchio, 64, and Wagner, 48, was overshadowed by the war between Cherchio and the city's public safety unions. The police and fire unions opposed Cherchio, campaigning against him door to door, because he was among the council members who voted for cuts to public safety to save money in the cash-strapped city.

North Las Vegas is dealing with a $30.3 million shortfall in fiscal 2012 and last month adopted a budget that included slashing more than 250 positions across city departments. Those positions included those of 40 firefighters and 17 police officers.

Cherchio was appointed to the council in 2009. Council members serve four-year terms and earn $41,827 a year.

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