Recount finds Democrat Daly won Assembly race by 36 votes

By Michelle Rindels, Associated Press

Published Monday, Nov. 21, 2016 | 12:40 p.m.

Updated Monday, Nov. 21, 2016 | 5:14 p.m.

A recount Monday in an exceptionally tight Northern Nevada Assembly race confirmed Democrat Skip Daly is the winner by only three dozen votes.

The Washoe County Registrar of Voters recounted the more than 30,000 votes cast in the Assembly District 31 race at the request of Republican incumbent Jill Dickman and concluded Daly defeated her by 36 votes. That's just down from preliminary results showing Daly won by 38 votes.

"It's a pretty divided district, apparently," said Daly, who held the seat for two terms before Dickman ousted him in the 2014 election. "The recount process is in place for a reason ... If the shoe was on the other foot I think I might do the same thing."

Dickman sought the recount after Washoe County had technical issues that slowed the counting process for about 500 ballots. On Monday, Registrar Luanne Cutler announced there was another problem — 75 absentee ballots in the Assembly district had been double-counted in error.

Early results indicated 31,594 votes were cast in the Assembly race, while the recount showed 31,528 total votes were cast. That's a difference of 66 votes.

Dickman said she won't contest the recount.

"I accept the will of the voters," she said in a statement congratulating Daly. "It is important that Mr. Daly's supporters, as well my own, maintain faith and confidence in the integrity of our elections process."

Daly's victory gives Democrats a powerful 27-15 majority in the Assembly after they spent one cycle in the minority.

An aggressive effort from Democrat-aligned campaigns and outside groups helped conjure a "blue wave" that handed victory to Hillary Clinton and Senate hopeful Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, in spite of national trends favoring Republicans.

Daly said he also put in plenty of his own work reaching out to voters in person and through the mail.

"Whenever you have an election that's that close, everyone can take a little bit of credit for what happens," he said.