Wagner pays for recount in Henderson

Henderson City Council candidate Thomas Wagner made good on his promise to seek a recount of his primary election loss to six-term incumbent Andy Hafen.

Wagner filed the necessary paperwork, along with a $1,600 deposit to cover the estimated cost of the recount, with the Henderson City Clerk's Office early Thursday afternoon.

City Clerk Monica Simmons scheduled the recount for 9 a.m. Monday at the Clark County Election Center in North Las Vegas.

It will begin with a hand count of all the mailed-in ballots and printed versions of all the electronic ballots cast in eight Henderson precincts of Wagner's choosing. Simmons said an election worker will read each ballot out loud and two other people will keep separate tallies of the results.

Each ballot also will be displayed using projection equipment so any members of the public who wish to observe the recount can keep track of what's going on.

Simmons said she and Clark County registrar of voters Larry Lomax also will monitor the proceeding.

If the recount tally differs from the official election results by more than 1 percent, all of the nearly 13,000 ballots cast in the Ward 2 City Council race will be counted again by hand.

Simmons declined to predict how long the process will take. "I haven't done one of these, and I believe it's been some time since the county has done one. It takes as long as it takes," she said.

If the cost of the recount exceeds $1,600, Wagner will be responsible for the additional money. If it costs less, a portion of his deposit will be refunded to him, Simmons said.

Several hours before Wagner filed the paperwork on Thursday, his campaign issued a news release indicating he had already done so.

In the news release, Wagner said he received "dozens of calls from voters, supporters and friends" who encouraged him to pursue the recount.

"I owe it to them, and all the residents of Henderson, to move ahead," he said in the release.

Of the eight election precincts Wagner picked to be recounted, only two are in Ward 2. Four are in Ward 1 and the remaining two are in Ward 4.

Henderson City Council members are elected at large but must reside in the ward they represent.

In order to reverse the outcome of the election, Wagner needs the recount to erase a 169-vote deficit, or little more than 1 percent of all the votes cast in the race.

Hafen and Wagner were the only two candidates for the Ward 2 seat, so their race was decided in the primary election.

There will be no general election in Henderson this year.

Simmons said Monday's recount is open to the public. The Clark County Election Center is at 965 Trade Drive, which just off Cheyenne Avenue east of Martin Luther King Boulevard in North Las Vegas.