Reno candidate Lily Baran calls for count to be stopped and restarted

The city of Reno says once a candidate withdraws a recount request, it cannot be rescinded.

Confusion surrounds the recount of votes in Lily Baran’s primary for Reno City Council.

She requested a recount, then tried to withdraw her request, then asked to reverse her withdrawal request and let the recount continue.

It was too late. Nevada election rules do not allow anyone to cancel a request to stop a recount or request a new recount altogether.

Baran needed just 16 votes to qualify for the November ballot.

A registered Democrat who has worked for the ACLU of Nevada and Planned Parenthood, she faced intense criticism from people with similar political beliefs for accepting $50,000 from Republican firebrand Robert Beadles to fund the recount.

“It’s been a nightmare,” she told the Reno Gazette Journal.

Requests to start, stop and restart the recount

Here’s how things went down, according to a letter sent Tuesday by Reno City Clerk Mikki Huntsman to Baran.

June 25: The city received a letter from Baran’s attorney requesting a recount.
Friday: The Washoe County Elections Department began the recount at 7 a.m. That afternoon, before the recount was complete, Baran emailed Huntsman to say, “I would like to immediately withdraw my request for a recount.”
SATURDAY: Baran sent another email: “I apologize for the confusion. I do not want to withdraw my request for a recount.”

Huntsman denied Baran’s request to restart the recount, citing the Nevada Administrative Code which states: “A person who withdraws a request for a recount of votes may not request a continuation of the recount or a new recount of those votes.”

A Washoe County elections spokesperson confirmed that the recount in Baran’s race stopped around 4 p.m. Sunday and there are currently no plans to resume it.

The recount in two other races — for Mark Lawson for Washoe County Commission District 4 and for Paul White for Washoe County School Board District G — was nearly complete by mid-afternoon Tuesday.

Baran’s explanation for the round trips

After news broke that Beadles was paying for his recount, Baran said, “I would go to sleep, wake up, and get a million phone calls, texts, emails, and Twitter direct messages.

Beadles is a polarizing figure. He has been criticized for toxic political tactics, such as sending campaign mailers containing personal attacks and calling a primary candidate an “alleged lying whore.”

People convinced Baran that she was at risk of going to jail because of her election protest.

“I feel like I was afraid to do it,” she said of withdrawing her recount request.

Former Reno City Councilman Paul McKenzie filed a complaint last week with the Nevada Secretary of State’s office, claiming that Beadles’ payment for the recount could be considered an “illegal contribution” to the three campaigns.

“My mother went to prison when I was younger, and it really traumatized me. I didn’t want to do that to my child. That was the most painful thing.”

Shortly after sending an email to withdraw her request for a recount, Baran received notice from her lawyer that she would not go to jail.

“And then I thought, okay, let’s keep doing this,” Baran said.

Concerns over Ward 1 vote

Baran said she is still pursuing additional legal action in Washoe County District Court seeking a hand recount.

“The reason I did this is because I personally know people who cast their ballots at the same time in the same mailbox, one in Ward 3 and one in Ward 1,” she said. “The one in Ward 3 was counted, the one in Ward 1 was not counted.”

She believes ballots from Ward 1 may have been problematic. The ward covers east central Reno, including downtown, the university and the Nevada Cares campus.

As she followed updates to Washoe County’s vote totals after Election Day, Baran saw herself closing the gap with candidate Frank Perez, who ultimately came in second and will face incumbent Kathleen Taylor in the general election.

The final part of the county’s count was to count ballots that had signature verification problems.

“Then, like magic, they finished counting without contacting every single person,” Baran said, referring to people she knew who said they voted but were never notified that they had been counted.

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When Baran learned it would cost $50,000 to get a recount in an election decided by 15 votes, she felt demoralized.

“That’s a very scary number, and one that many people I represent don’t get to in a year,” she said. “The establishment often uses money to keep us out of the process, and that’s what they tried to do here.”

As for what will happen to the money paid for Baran’s recount, the county should calculate the staff time spent on the effort, deduct that amount from the employees’ salaries from the $50,000, and refund the remainder.

Mark Robison is a political reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal, with occasional forays into other areas. Email your comments to [email protected] or comment on Mark’s Facebook page for Greater Reno.