State Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Henderson
State Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas
Recall efforts targeting two Democratic state senators appear to have failed following a review by elections officials.
Letters from Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske filed in court Friday state that campaigns to recall Sens. Nicole Cannizzaro and Joyce Woodhouse each fell short by at least 1,500 signatures.
Wayne Thorley, deputy secretary of state for elections, said Monday that a full review of the signatures was conducted, unlike the initial sample that was reviewed and allowed the recalls to move forward. He said the verification process left both recalls short of the required signatures. Even if the recall removals are successfully appealed, neither would have sufficient signatures to proceed to election.
A recent court decision sent the recall petitions back to the Clark County Registrar’s and Secretary of State’s offices, where signatures and petitions from signers who wanted their names removed were reviewed.
Democrats persuaded more than 2,300 voters to remove their names from the petitions, a move a judge upheld in a ruling last month.
Woodhouse said she was relieved to have the threat of a recall lifted. Cannizzaro said in a joint statement with Woodhouse that the recalls "were an attempt at a desperate power grab by self-serving politicians who lost at the ballot box in the 2016 election."
“Since Day 1, we knew these bogus partisan recalls deserved to fail, and the hard work of our Democratic partners and allies helped ensure our success as a team to beat these recalls,” Nevada State Democratic Party Chairman William McCurdy II said.
“Now that this disturbing chapter in our state’s history is finally over, we are going to shift our focus to expanding our Democratic majority in the state Senate,” he said.
Republican Nevada Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, whose private law firm represented the recall effort, did not return an email seeking comment. Hutchison's government office would not comment on the lawsuit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.