Trowbridge seeks a recount

Glenn Trowbridge, who last week lost his bid to become Las Vegas' next City Council member by a mere 10 votes, officially requested a recount on Thursday, saying voters deserve one.

"It was virtually a tie," Trowbridge said of the June 2 election he lost to Stavros Anthony. "We need to pursue it. So many people have a vested interest in the outcome."

Trowbridge, 65, handed a letter requesting the recount to City Clerk Beverly Bridges on Thursday morning, with a check for $800 to pay for it.

Election officials must complete the recount within five business days of receiving the request, Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said.

But Trowbridge said he won't concede the Ward 4 seat even if the recount results come back identical to those on election night. That's because he's still troubled by the 18 uncounted mail-in ballots the city discovered the day after elections, he said.

City officials have said the ballots, picked up June 3 from a mailbox into which ballots are deposited, came in too late and were thus invalid.

"I feel very strongly that everyone's vote counts," Trowbridge said on Thursday. "I don't think it's fair to have 18 people's wishes ignored."

Trowbridge's campaign manager said he plans to have an attorney look into the matter.

The 18 ballots came to light last week after Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he had "heard rumors" of them being discovered at the post office the day after the election.

"I don't know when they were postmarked or whether they were at all available to be counted for the election," the mayor said at the time.

Some mail ballots come in late every election, Lomax said. It doesn't matter when they were postmarked; per Nevada law, late ballots are not counted, he said.

On Thursday, Goodman said, "The 18 votes could be relevant." He emphasized that he was speaking "as a lawyer, not as the mayor."

Meanwhile, Goodman noted, Anthony is scheduled to be sworn in to his new City Council post next week.

"Should something occur that would preclude us from going forward, it would have to come from a court," Goodman said.

Anthony, 52, said he is not concerned about a possible recount, nor about the 18 "unofficial" ballots.

"I have complete faith that the Election Department came up with the right voting numbers and that they'll stand," the police captain said Thursday.

Anthony isn't letting the matter distract him from "getting up to speed" in time for next week's council meeting, which will be his first as a sitting council member, he said. Anthony defeated Trowbridge 3,309 votes to 3,299 votes.

Under state law, the recount will begin with a hand count of four precincts chosen by Trowbridge, Lomax said. If the results differ from the official results by more than 1 percent, all of the votes cast in the Ward 4 City Council race will be recounted by hand.

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