RENO, Nev. (AP) — The commission that oversees Nevada’s second-most populous county approved its new elections director in a familiar split vote earlier this year.
The three votes in favor came from two Democrats and a moderate Republican, Clara Andriola. The dissenting votes came from two Republican commissioners who have expressed doubts about elections or voted against certifying the results and are supported by a broader movement within the county that promotes election conspiracy theories.
Now that movement hopes to unseat Andriola from the Washoe County Board of Commissioners during Tuesday’s Republican primary and create a majority on the board. That could have national implications because the commission has important oversight of the elections office for a swing county in one of the key battleground states for the president and the U.S. Senate.
Andriola, whose bipartisan votes on the committee earned her a censure from the provincial Republican Party, said she is disheartened by the attacks from her own party.
“I don’t think elections should be a partisan issue,” she said. “Unfortunately, it has become a very partisan issue.”
Its chairman, Alexis Hill, said the attacks on the election office and its employees are unwarranted and harmful to democracy because they undermine confidence in the election and its outcome. But Hill, a Democrat, also said she is well aware of why the office is in the crosshairs of election conspiracy theorists and why they are seeking a majority on the committee.
“It’s a national issue; this is not just a Washoe County issue,” she said. “If you cast doubt on the election in Washoe County, it has a ripple effect that casts doubt on a potential swing presidential election, a potential swing Senate election. It’s very dangerous.”
The dynamic unfolding in the politically mixed region of Northern Nevada, which includes Reno, is similar to dramas that have unfolded elsewhere, including in neighboring Arizona, another swing state where conspiracy theorists have targeted local governments and election offices in recent years .
Arizona’s July primary also features people who promoted false election claims running for office and election office in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. Officials there have been subjected to a never-ending stream of attacks and threats since Democrat Joe Biden narrowly defeated Republican Donald Trump in the state in the 2020 presidential election.
In Washoe County, a wealthy far-right activist, Robert Beadles, has financially supported the two Republicans on the commission who voted against appointing the election director in January. He also backs the effort to oust Andriola, who was appointed and supported by Republican Governor Joe Lombardo. Because the commission district covers a Republican part of the county, the candidate who emerges from Tuesday’s primary will be favored to win the seat in November, which covers much of Reno’s neighboring city of Sparks and nearby residential areas.
Beadles, who did not respond to requests for comment for this story, has been engaged in a years-long search for a far-right majority on the commission that oversees government operations in the province of nearly 500,000 people.
His previous efforts include publicly spreading rumors about the family lives of officials he opposed, unsuccessfully filing lawsuits to oust county officials and roll back protections for election workers, and leading a local movement that has encouraged officials to avoid certification of election results and review the election. department. He has sometimes accused local officials of treason for not doing what he wanted.
Against this backdrop, Washoe County commission meetings are regularly filled with heated rhetoric about “puppet masters” manipulating elections, false accusations of stolen votes and conspiracy theories about voting machines. The claims stem from repeated lies promoted by Trump, who plans to hold a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The province is on its third elections director since 2022. The latest, who was appointed earlier this year, said she rarely leaves her home because of the constant public attacks.
One of Andriola’s far-right primary challengers is Tracey Hilton-Thomas, vice chair of the Washoe County GOP. She previously applied for the position of county elections supervisor.
She told CBS that she does not believe the results of the 2020 election were legitimate. She came across that claim in part during an interview with The Associated Press and said she didn’t know enough to say for sure. Multiple reviews, recounts and audits in the states where Trump contested his 2020 loss, including Nevada, have confirmed Biden’s victory, and there is no evidence of widespread fraud.
Hilton-Thomas has also said she believes the Washoe County Registrar of Voters office routinely circumvents state laws and wastes money on voting machines and staff.
“(Someone) said that if any of us other than Clara (Andriola) were appointed, there would be a mass exodus of workers in the province,” Hilton-Thomas said at a campaign event moderated by Beadles. “My opinion about that is: good. It just keeps us from ending them.”
The authority the county commission has over its elections division includes appointing the registrar of voters, certifying the vote count, identifying polling places and providing ballots in Spanish in a county where the population is about a quarter Latino . The state and the courts provide protection against any local manipulation of elections.
Through his political action committee, Beadles has endorsed former Sparks fire chief Mark Lawson for the commission seat. Lawson has maintained his innocence as he faces four charges of possession and distribution of steroids and has reached a $381,000 settlement following his resignation from the fire department.
Lawson said he was skeptical of the 2020 election results and non-committal on whether he would oust the chief of elections or certify the results of an election if he won the commission seat.
“For the province as a whole, with a focus on voter registration, we have to get it right,” he said. “Whatever changes need to be made, let’s make them and let’s steer this ship in the right direction.”
The clerk appointed earlier this year, Cari-Ann Burgess, said the county supports her department and that she has more contact with the district attorney and county manager than with the commissioners. But the hostile rhetoric from the commission meetings has made running Washoe’s elections department a challenge. She said she works hard to protect her staff from the vitriol.
She still loves her job and sees her goal as simple: “to ensure that democracy prevails.”
