MARK WAITE / PVT Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino, at right, accepts documents from recall organizers, left, Butch Clendenen, Larky White and Geneil White, just prior to the expiration of the 90-day deadline for collecting signatures last Thursday. MARK WAITE / PVT Butch Clendenen, chairman of Recalls R Us, shows copies of a recall petition turned in against Nye County Commissioner Butch Borasky outside the Pahrump Justice Facility last Thursday, the last day of the 90 day period to gather signatures. Advertisement

A raw count turned up 801 signatures on a petition to recall Nye County Commissioner Butch Borasky, or far more than the 652 required, Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino said.

The county clerk's office was instructed by the Nevada Secretary of State's office to begin verifying 500 of the signatures at random. Merlino said that count should be completed by Tuesday, well in advance of the nine days alloted, which expire Sept. 21.

So far, Merlino said, "We have not found anything irregular in this petition."

She even scheduled a tentative date of Oct. 21 for a recall election.

If 100 percent of the 500 random signatures are determined valid, a recall election will be scheduled, Merlino said. If between 90 and 100 percent of the signatures are valid, Merlino said the Nevada Secretary of State's office will tell the county clerk to reexamine the signatures.

"We will know by Tuesday whether we will have an election or not," Merlino said.

The county clerk's office enters the number of signatures and number of pages on the petition into a computer program, which then instructs her office which signatures to check. Merlino said petitioners had a voter's registration list to check against whether people signing the petitions were residents of District 4.

"At this point the only people authorized to verify these signatures are in my office," Merlino said. "We haven't found any issues so far and most of the signatures are good so far."

Borasky said he will verify the signatures as well.

"I have a couple of people that work with me that supported me through my campaign. We're slowly going through to make sure, according to the records, they're qualified to vote or living in the district," Borasky said.

In January 2008, Nevada Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Matt Griffin struck down a recall petition against former Nye County District 5 Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos. He ruled only 341 of the 500 signatures examined were valid. Organizers needed 670 signatures. Liakopoulos resigned anyway, effective Dec. 31, 2008, two years before his term expired.

Borasky, a first-time commissioner whose term ordinarily would expire in January 2011, said some people didn't understand what they were signing.

"Some of the people were just confused, and the really, really sad part is all these individuals were elderly. That really hurt me," Borasky said.

There is still a dispute over whether the law changed by the Nevada Legislature this past session -- which change the requirement for the signatures of 25 percent of people in the district who voted in the last election, to simply requiring signatures of 25 percent of the registered voters -- is in effect, Borasky said.

But Borasky said he was informed the people who signed the petition only have to be registered voters.

"So it looks like I'll be in a runoff with Donna Cox because nobody else will be qualified to run in time," Borasky said.

A replacement candidate in the recall election would have to submit signatures of 25 percent of the registered voters at least 20 days before the recall election. Petitions were circulated nominating Donna Cox, chairman of Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community, to run against Borasky at the same time as the recall petition.

"It'd be really nice if I could run for the same office three times in a four-year period. If I could do that I'd be a hero," Borasky said jokingly.