On March 1st, the Committees aiming to recall IVGID Trustees Sara Schmitz and Matt Dent received notification from the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office regarding the conclusion of their investigation. It was confirmed that there were insufficient signatures to proceed with a recall election.
Several reasons were cited for the rejection of signatures by both the Washoe County Registrar’s Office and the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, including:
- Signatures collected within the initial 45 days from the filing of the notice of intent were not submitted by August 8, 2023.
- Signatures did not match the public record.
- Address discrepancies, as many community members had relocated within the District without updating their records.
- Notarized signatures lacking the notary public stamp.
- Less than 6% of the signatures were from community members who did not vote in the 2020 IVGID General Election.
Of note, the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed the validity of signatures for one petition while rejecting those for the other. However, they refrained from speculating on the marked differences in signatures for the same individual across two separate petitions.
It is evident that the legal framework poses challenges to the recall of elected officials, particularly given the limited options available for addressing known issues. This outcome may not align with the hopes of over 2,000 community members; nevertheless, they will have an opportunity to voice their opinions during the upcoming November General Election, where Schmitz will be up for re-election. Dent, on the other hand, will reach the end of his term at that time.
Supporting documents regarding the Secretary of State’s decision can be found below.
The Nevada Office of the Secretary of State sent the following letter related to the Dent recall investigation.
The analysis of the signatures on the Dent petition can be seen here.
The Nevada Office of the Secretary of State sent the following letter related to the Dent recall investigation.
The analysis of the signatures on the Schmitz petition can be seen below.