Minutemen backed candidate refuses to accept primary results

Ignoring the wishes of party leaders, Sarron Angle, the minutemen backed Republican candidate for Nevada's 2nd District, filed a lawsuit today seeking a new election after her Aug 15th primary loss to Dean Heller. Lawyers for Reno Assemblywoman Angle, who lost the race by 421 votes, said the suit would request a new primary on the grounds that "acts of malfeasance" caused the disenfranchised of numerous Angle voters.

Angle, who received the backing of both the Minutemen PAC and the anti-government Club for Growth PAC during the campaign, ruled out demanding a recount saying it would fail to address the issue of those who did not get a chance to cast their ballots due to problems on Election Day.


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The "statement of contest" names Heller - currently Nevada's secretary of state - as the defendant, and cites 17 arguments, including malfeasance on the part of election officials, in support of a new election.

Most involve Election Day polling problems in the Reno area.

Washoe County Voter Registrar has said about 100 workers were late or didn't show up that day, causing some voters to leave without casting a ballot.

Angle and attorney Jonathan Hansen said also they've received allegations of voting improprieties in Lyon County, though they didn't provide specifics.

The filing further asserts that absentee ballots were mailed late, and people who then tried to vote in person were turned away. It also alleges some Republicans were given Democratic ballots and voted in the wrong primary.

"The alleged grounds for this challenge show that numerous voters have been disenfranchised by acts of malfeasance," the legal filing said. "The exact number of voters that were disenfranchised cannot be known."

Las Vegas Sun

Angle waited to announce her lawsuit until minutes after the deadline to seek a recount expired. Critics point out that had Angle chosen to go the more traditional route she would have been responsible to pay the cost of a recount, estimated by the secretary of state's office at a minimum of $110,000.

Angle denies the cost being any factor in her decision, claiming instead that she's requesting a new election because, "The registrar of voters does not know who the winner of this election is because of the errors committed during this election, what we want is for them to give us a new election where we will have every vote counted and every voter who wants to vote to have the opportunity to vote."

Washoe Registrar of Voters Dan Burke points out that in his county alone the cost of a new election would be $400K. Given the fact that the sprawling 2nd district encompasses portions of all of Nevada's 17 counties the costs could be staggering.

Angle is one of a handful of candidates to date who have received financial assistance or support from Chris Simcox's Minutemen PAC, the political wing of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp. During the campaign MMPAC bought time to run ads on both TV and radio in support of her candidacy. They highlighted the "attack on American's borders" and how she could be counted on to "fight this invasion."

Some other Minuteman backed candidates have been: Tim Walberg in Michigan's 7th District who received over $50K in support, Doug Lamborn in Colorado's 5th who got $10K and Arizona 8th District candidate "Minuteman Randy Graf," the hand-picked Simcox candidate.

MMPAC has not yet commented on Angles attempts to force a new election in Arizona's 2nd District. State law requires a hearing on the matter within 10 days.

[EDITORS NOTE:] Perhaps if things don't work out for Angle she can run as an "Independent Republican"… it seems to be all the rage in some circles these days - to disregard primary results and just continue to run anyway. I'm sure her backers at the Club for Growth and MMPAC wouldn't mind footing the bill.