One day after the Washoe County Commission refused to certify the primary election results, the secretary of state filed an emergency petition with the Nevada Supreme Court to compel the board to act.

The petition, filed by the attorney general on behalf of Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, followed an unprecedented vote by Washoe County Commissioners to not certify the recount results. Three of the commission's Republican members voted not to certify the election, while the two Democratic members voted in opposition.

“This vote has the potential to set a dangerous precedent for elections in Nevada. It is unacceptable that any public officer would undermine the confidence of their voters,” Aguilar, a Democrat, said in a joint statement with Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford on Wednesday. “These commissioners have failed to do their part in this process under law.”

Nevada law specifies that a recount must be conducted in the same manner as the original vote tabulation. Any losing candidate can seek a recount, but state law requires them to front the cost and receive a refund only if the recount changes the outcome in their favor. Recounts can be requested within three working days of the county or statewide canvass and must start within five days of receiving the demand. A recount must be completed within five days once it has commenced.

Nevada Administrative Code outlines counties' statutory obligation to certify election results, specifying that any recount election “must be canvassed within 5 working days after the completion of the recount.”

In 2022, after Esmeralda County delayed approving the results of a primary, Ford said state law made county lawmakers’ roles “ministerial only,” indicating they must perform election certification in a prescribed manner “without using one’s own judgment or discretion.”

In the joint statement Wednesday, Ford said that by not certifying the vote, the Washoe County Board of Commissioners “failed to perform its duty to certify the authenticated results of the recount,” and “failed to meet the expectation of Nevada voters that the election results would reflect the votes of the majority.”

Aguilar said the requested recounts of the June primary races were conducted by the Washoe County Registrar of Voters within the appropriate time frame and revealed that the initial count for each race had been off by one vote for each candidate. This confirmed the initial primary results because more than 1,000 votes decided the races, he said, adding the only missed step was the county commissioners’ certification of the recount. 

“The importance of this issue cannot be overstated,” Aguilar said. “This law is nonpartisan, and this response is about something far more serious than any political stance or office: the democratic process itself.”

The joint announcement comes after Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill, a Democrat, announced Wednesday afternoon that the commission would hold a revote on the decision not to certify the primary election recount results. Republican Commissioner Clara Andriola, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and had voted against the certification earlier this week, requested the do-over.

The commission's reconsideration of the canvass of the votes will take place July 16.

Athar Haseebullah, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, told The Nevada Independent on Wednesday that although Nevada law clearly states that counties have an obligation to certify the votes, the consequences of not doing so are unclear.

He warned that if the court system doesn’t provide clarity, there could be more issues surrounding the certification of the vote in the November general election.

“I'm expecting, as part of the election denialism movement, that there are going to be at least a few county commissions statewide that will end up obfuscating and rejecting existing law and simply moving toward noncertification as a means of holding up the election,”  Haseebullah said. “It's going to end up embarrassing Nevada at a national level.”

Updated on 7/11/24 at 9:30 a.m. to include a copy of the petition.