Gates recall effort moves on

There are enough "raw signatures" to go to the second step of the recall effort against Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates -- but not by too wide a margin.

Those seeking to unseat the commission chairwoman collected 4,742 signatures according to a report by Clark County Registrar of Voters Kathryn Ferguson that was to be sent to the Secretary of State's office today. The required number of good signatures for a recall is 4,380.

Gates is the target of a recall because she was reprimanded by the State Ethics Commission for her involvement in selecting concessionaires for McCarran International Airport's new D gates. The Ethics Commission said Gates used her position to help acquaintances secure retail space there.

"This is a narrow margin for raw signatures," Ferguson said today, noting that the next step will be to check 500 randomly selected signatures. "If only 418 or less signatures are good, it (the recall) fails."

If all 500 random signatures are good, a recall election will automatically be scheduled, she said. If 90 percent or more are legitimate, all 4,742 signatures must be checked to determine if the minimum amount are genuine to go forward with a recall, Ferguson said.

This is the second attempt to oust Gates. The first attempt failed when more than half the signatures were found to be bogus.

Signatures are disqualified for a number of reasons, including those written in pencil, those that are crossed out or illegible and those of people who were not registered to vote, Ferguson said.

It is expected that the Gates signature verification will be completed by late this month.

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