The one-vote winner of a heated North Las Vegas City Council race is suing to stop a new election. An attorney for dentist Wade Wagner, who won election to the council’s Ward 4 seat by a single vote, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in District Court against the city and four council members over the decision to order a new election in one precinct after the discovery of an ineligible vote.
Wagner won the election “but is being deprived of the office due to the unlawful actions of partisan City Council members who claim the power to void lawful votes because their preferred candidate lost,” the complaint said.
It asks the court to order the city to certify the original election and to stop the city from going forward with a new one. The city has 45 days to respond.
Wagner won the race earlier this month with 1,831 votes versus incumbent Councilman Richard Cherchio’s 1,830.
The city’s decision to “reject the canvass of the votes and hold a new election is outside the scope of its authority and against the law,” the complaint said.
But attorney Matt Griffin, former deputy secretary of state for elections who was retained by the city to advise council members about their options concerning the election, said the decision to redo it was perfectly legal.
“I laid out what legally the options were available to them,” he said. “They chose that.”
Full Article: One-vote winner of North Las Vegas City Council race sues to stop new election – News – ReviewJournal.com.