Carson City primary vote certified by supervisors

Carson City supervisors on Tuesday certified the primary vote in the capital, a process called canvassing the vote to make the results official before shipping them to the Secretary of State’s office.

All 17 Nevada counties are doing the same thing ahead of the official statewide canvass by the Nevada Supreme Court to make the results official.

Newly elected Clerk/Recorder Aubrey Rowlatt said there were just nine voters who turned their ballots back in without voting, primarily because, as nonpartisans, there was really only one race they could vote in — the Nevada Supreme Court primary.

There were no primary contests for any of Carson City’s nonpartisan offices and, in Nevada, nonpartisans can’t vote in partisan primaries such as governor and U.S. senator.

Outgoing Clerk/Recorder Sue Merriwether said there was one voter who voted both in early voting and on primary day a week ago due to a staff error. She said that elderly gentleman thought he was voting in the general election last week. The case has been turned over to the District Attorney’s office to review.

She and Rowlatt said part of the problem is new arrivals from California, an open primary state that allows anyone to vote in partisan primaries.

Despite using new voting machines, Merriwether said everything worked well.

“This was the best run election I’ve ever been through,” she said.

Unlike Washoe and Clark counties, which purchased a different system from the one Carson officials bought, Carson’s machines worked flawlessly.

“The biggest disappointment of this election was the turnout,” she said.

Only 30.7 percent of Carson voters went to the polls in the primary compared to 36 percent two years ago and 51.6 percent in 2010, the highest recorded turnout for a Carson primary.