Norcutt Wins Ward 1 Special Election After Ballot Error Forces New Vote

Lori Norcutt received the most votes in the Fallon City Council Ward 1 special election after a ballot assignment error forced the city to hold a second election.

According to results released Tuesday by the Churchill County Clerk's Office, Norcutt received 122 votes, or 56.74 percent, defeating Ryan Swirczek, who received 76 votes, or 35.35 percent, and Daniel Doty, who received 17 votes, or 7.91 percent. The vote totals give Norcutt the majority needed to avoid a runoff election if the results are certified.

The Fallon City Council rejected certification of the June election and ordered a new vote after learning hundreds of eligible Ward 1 voters had not received the correct ballot.

The July 21 special election was ordered after county officials determined that 881 registered Ward 1 voters had been assigned to the wrong precinct before the June election. Because their voter records were not updated following changes within Nevada's statewide election management system, those residents received ballots that did not include the City Council race.

Churchill County Clerk Linda Rothery said she did not expect the remaining mail ballots or signature-cure ballots to change the outcome.

“It’s apparent who the winner is,” Rothery said. “I don’t think enough additional mail ballots will come in to change the outcome.”

The Churchill County Commission was scheduled to canvass the election July 29, after this edition of The Fallon Post went to press.

Mail ballots had to be postmarked by Election Day and received by Saturday. Voters with signature issues had until Monday to cure their ballots before the scheduled canvass.

Only 215 of Ward 1's 1,938 registered voters cast ballots, an 11.09 percent turnout. Of those, 123 ballots were cast by mail, 50 during early voting, and 42 on Election Day.

“I always expect more turnout,” Rothery said. “I was hoping we’d have better turnout for the second round because of how publicized it was. We pushed it out on social media, so this was a lot smaller than I expected.”

Before the June election was invalidated, Norcutt also led the unofficial vote with 161 ballots. Swirczek received 110 votes, and Doty received 32.

County officials said the affected voter records were manually corrected and verified before the special election. Additional checks were added to compare voter registrations with precinct assignments to help prevent similar errors in future elections.

The special election featured the same three candidates who appeared on the June ballot.

If certified, the results would give Norcutt more than the majority required to avoid a runoff election.

Rothery said lower turnout is common in primary-style municipal elections because many voters wait until the general election to cast a ballot.

“I don’t think people view primaries as important,” she said. “We have people who only come out for the general election.”

Fallon City Clerk Michael O’Neill said turnout was also historically low when Fallon conducted its own municipal elections before joining the county election system.