The Nevada Secretary of State's office made it official: the recall petition of Nye County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos is invalid.

In a brief, three paragraph letter dated Jan. 15, Deputy Secretary for Elections Matthew Griffin states: "this letter is to confirm receipt of signature verification declaring the total number of signatures affixed to the recall petition of Peter Liakopoulos, Nye County Commissioner, District 5. I find that the number of signatures, 341, is less than the 670 signatures required to declare the petition sufficient."

"Therefore, the recall petition of Peter Liakopoulos, Nye County Commissioner, has failed. No further action is necessary."

The Nye County clerk's office was instructed to verify only 500 signatures out of the 772 submitted, thus the 341 valid signatures doesn't represent the entire petition. It would be 68 percent of the signatures examined by the county clerk.

Petition organizers would have to go to district court to appeal the findings as a civil case. Griffin said that hearing would be held in the local Fifth District Court rather than in Carson City.

Bill Garlough, a recall supporter, said he doesn't think the three people who filed the motion of intent to recall Liakopoulos would want to pay the money to contest the decision in court. He was disappointed at the outcome after the hard work some people put into the recall effort and disagreed with the count.

Recall supporter Harley Kulkin complained about the apathy of residents in district five, if less than 25 percent of the people who voted in the last election would sign the recall petition, despite a highly-visible effort.

"Obviously the people in district five are extremely self-centered and apathetic. They just choose to sit around and complain all the time," Kulkin said.

But regarding Liakopoulos, Kulkin said, "that's the least of his troubles is the recall because he's still being investigated by the attorney general's office."

Griffin said he would consult with the Nye County district attorney's office about allegations of forgery made by Liakopoulos.

Liakopoulos verified 596 valid signatures on the entire petition, well short of the 670 needed to call for a special, recall election. Liakopoulos also submitted affidavits with his challenge of the recall petition from two residents who swear under oath they never signed the petition. Liakopoulos also referred to similar handwriting on 12 pages of the petition. He asked the secretary of state's office to pursue charges of forgery, perjury, filing false documents and conspiracy against those circulating the petition.

Griffin said the Nevada Legislature increased the penalties the last legislative session from a misdemeanor to a felony for fraudulent circulation of a recall petition and providing fraudulent signatures.

"We can't really comment on matters that we're currently looking into. The way the statute reads, it's something our office will be addressing with the district attorney's office," Griffin stated in his remarks meant for publication. "There was a legislative history as to why this was changed to a felony."

All parties involved in the recall have a copy of Liakopoulos' challenge of the recall petition, Griffin said.

"In light of what Mr. Liakopoulos has submitted, in addition the filings of the county clerk, we've taken it under submission and we'll take the appropriate steps."

The last successful recall in Nye County was an election to recall former Public Administrator Bob "Red" Dyer in Jan. 18, 2000, by a vote of 3,707 to 74. Dyer was awaiting trial on a variety of theft charges.

Griffin recalled a pair of recall campaigns in the state that failed in the past year. One recall targeted Carson City Mayor Marv Teixeira, who plead guilty to driving under the influence last March, organizers needed 5,529 signatures to call for a recall election. Another attempt failed in Elko County, where citizens who wanted to recall Sheriff Dale Lotspeich, turned in only 940 signatures in November, when 2,967 were required.