Wendi Rawson leads Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson by more than 180 votes

Challenger Wendi Rawson led Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson by 187 votes in the latest count of ballots in the race for mayor, as Washoe County continued processing thousands of outstanding ballots.

The unofficial results were updated at 3:48 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, according to This Is Reno. Rawson's lead had grown from 180 votes in Thursday night's count, KOLO reported Nov. 6.

The margin was just 11 votes on Wednesday, Nov. 4, KOLO reported.

“Definitely did not picture this as the direction our race was going to go,” Rawson told KOLO. “It just goes to show our community is ready for change.”

Rawson, a winery owner and registered Republican, is challenging Lawson, also a registered Republican, who has held the mayor's office since 2020. The Washoe County Republican Party endorsed Rawson, according to The Nevada Independent.

Lawson entered the final stretch of the campaign with a significant fundraising advantage. The Nevada Independent reported that Rawson raised almost six times less than Lawson through the first nine months of 2026.

Thousands of ballots remain

The Washoe County Registrar of Voters estimated that about 3,400 ballots remained to be counted as of 9 a.m. Sunday, according to a county ballot-processing update.

The outstanding ballots included:

About 1,900 provisional ballots that had been determined eligible and were awaiting counting.
About 400 provisional ballots still under review.
About 1,100 mail ballots with signature problems that could be counted only if voters corrected them by 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9.

The deadline for voters to provide documentation for provisional ballots had already passed, the county said. Eligible provisional ballots were expected to be added to the results early this week.

The county emphasized that its outstanding-ballot figures were approximate, point-in-time estimates, not exact counts. It planned to post updated unofficial results once daily by 6 p.m. on its election results dashboard.

Results will remain unofficial until the county completes its canvass Friday, Nov. 13, according to the county.

Recounts and possible tie

The Washoe County Registrar of Voters told KOLO that only candidates in a race can request a recount. There is no set vote-margin threshold for requesting one, and the candidate who requests it must pay the cost, which George Guthrie, a county spokesperson, estimated at about $50,000 per race.

No recount was requested during the primary election cycle, Guthrie told KOLO. A recount in the mayoral race would be the first of the cycle.

Guthrie also explained what would happen if the final count ended in a tie. Because the race is a Sparks city contest, the city would determine what game of chance to use to break the tie.

A race for the Gerlach General Improvement District ended in a tiebreaker two years ago. The candidates each drew a card from a 52-card deck after a coin toss determined who would draw first. The candidate with the higher card won.

Guthrie told KOLO that ties are rare in high-profile races with larger turnouts.