If you listen to the incessant drumbeat of mainstream and social media you probably believe that there were absolutely no issues in any of the 2020 elections nationwide.
And while there is yet no evidence that fraud, mistakes, or discrepancies changed the outcome of the presidential election, legal battles are still being fought and some issues have been found, The Nevada Independent reported.
In Clark County, Nevada, the largest county in the state and home to Las Vegas, one local election was completely thrown out after discrepancies were found, and President Donald Trump has seized on it to raise suspicions of bigger issues.
All of the races in Clark County have been certified except the one for the District C commission seat where the Democrat candidate, Ross Miller, had a 10-vote lead.
But on Monday, Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria informed the commission that there were 139 ballot discrepancies.
The commission voted to not certify the election for District C and asked Gloria to come back to them in December with plans to have a special election for the seat.
“To the best of my knowledge, some of the discrepancies outlined by the registrar indicate that those discrepancies surpassed the narrow margin of victory in the District C race, calling into question the validity of election results in that district,” Commissioner Larry Brown, who is the current occupant of the seat, said.
“There’s no election that goes without discrepancies that are identified,” Gloria said of the vote count.
“In particular, this time, with such a large mail ballot number, that number that I’ve identified is in the thousandths of percent,” he said.
President Trump tweeted that the decision to throw the election out would have a “major impact,” even though it did not involve presidential ballots.
“Big victory moments ago in the State of Nevada. The all Democrat County Commissioner race, on same ballot as President, just thrown out because of large scale voter discrepancy. Clark County officials do not have confidence in their own election security. Major impact!” the president said on Monday.
Big victory moments ago in the State of Nevada. The all Democrat County Commissioner race, on same ballot as President, just thrown out because of large scale voter discrepancy. Clark County officials do not have confidence in their own election security. Major impact! https://t.co/TLHnFKNN6g
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020
But even as the Republican candidate in the campaign for commissioner, Stavros Anthony, has supported President Trump, his campaign has distanced itself from the president’s tweet.
His campaign manager, Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, told The Nevada Independent that the campaign “has never subscribed to the conspiracy side of that.”
“What we’ve consistently talked about is human error,” the Anthony campaign manager said of the vote discrepancies. “I don’t care if you’re counting ballots or making pizzas, there’s going to be errors.”
“With a 10-vote margin … the utmost consideration and careful review should be given to the voters of District C and the counting of the votes so that an accurate final tally can be confidently given,” she said.
The special election is going to be funded by the county, but history shows that it will likely see a much lower voter turnout as the “2018 Republican primary special election saw 36 percent voter turnout, while a smaller special election for Ward 5 on the Las Vegas City Council saw 6 percent turnout,” The Independent reported.
Even as the votes did not affect the presidential election, this striking of the election is likely to provide wind to the sails of the president and his supporters who believe that mistakes have been made in vote-counting nationwide.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member