HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Sheila Winn, above, challenges losing J.P. candidate Louis DeCanio, at right, about his allegations of improper vote-counting during the primary election Aug. 12. HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Louis DeCanio came in among the losers during the Aug. 12 primary election but took his concerns to the clerk?s office at the Nye County Government Complex here Monday. HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Sheila Winn, above, challenges losing J.P. candidate Louis DeCanio, at right, about his allegations of improper vote-counting during the primary election Aug. 12. Advertisement

Louis DeCanio, former candidate for Pahrump Justice of the Peace, took a trip down to the Nye County clerk's office Monday afternoon because he's certain what he calls "a mistake" has been made.

He went into the clerk's office and demanded to know who was present to count the absentee and mail-in ballots in Tonopah before asking for information on how to request a recount.

The candidate, who ran against 12 other people for the new J.P. position, is certain he had more votes than the 327 the clerk's office reported him receiving.

That vote count puts DeCanio in fifth place (Linda DeMeo won with 1,042 votes).

"I got well over a thousand," DeCanio claimed in the courthouse lobby. "Everyone I spoke to said, 'I'm backing you,'" he added.

However, DeCanio has little hard evidence to support his claim.

He simply said he's spoken to "lots of people" who said they voted for him but has not taken a tally of the alleged voters or even asked for their names. He offered no proof that any of the alleged voters had even gone to the polls.

"Why would I be doing that? I didn't know I would be going through all this," DeCanio said.

In addition, DeCanio bases his belief on the fact that his wife works at the Pahrump Nugget and "she's talked to at least 300 people just there that told her they voted for me."

Further, DeCanio said he was supported by the Independent party, the Democrat party and "I had numerous Republicans backing me."

With it pointed out that party support doesn't necessarily translate into individual votes, the former candidate remained unmoved.

"The only thing I can say is there is something wrong," he responded. "Unless the whole town lied to me, I got more than 300 votes."

What, exactly, is "something wrong" remained unclear.

DeCanio also took issue with the lack of what he called "independent" people overseeing the vote tally.

He claimed he was told by Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino that he could not go beyond the counter with other volunteers to watch how the cartridge votes are tabulated upon being uploaded to the computer.

But as Sheila Winn, the chief deputy clerk DeCanio spoke with Monday, pointed out, DeCanio wasn't even at the clerk's office the night of the primary.

Furthermore, Winn pointed out that reporters and other candidates who were there that night were invited to come behind the counter and watch the computer tabulate the votes.

DeCanio said he didn't show up election night because he had been told he couldn't watch the vote tally.

After Winn explained the vote-counting process (basically cartridges with information being uploaded to a computer in the clerk's office), DeCanio griped that a person standing behind the counter couldn't see what was on the computer screen across the room.

"Are you alleging that Sam Merlino, my boss, the Nye County Clerk, somehow rigged the election?" Winn bluntly asked DeCanio.

DeCanio said he was not, only reiterating that he felt a mistake had been made. Upon leaving the office, Winn was given a round of applause by those who work there and others who had business with the office.

The candidate also complained that having a recount done should not be cost-prohibitive.

Merlino, in an interview after DeCanio's Monday visit to her office, during which she was not present, said the process was expensive because the county has to reimburse the travel fees and paid time for the representatives of the companies who run the voting machines.

But DeCanio has a few other issues with voting in Nye County as well.

He claims Merlino should recuse herself from handling elections because she herself is an elected official and this constitutes "a conflict of interest."

DeCanio also expressed skepticism about the counting of absentee and mail-in ballots.

Before leaving the clerk's office, he said a federal lawsuit was "in the process" against the Nye County Clerk's office, the Secretary of State and Merlino, although he admitted he was not one of the people listed as filing it.