Contested city races highlight Fernley’s June 9 primary election

While Fernley voters debate issues such as the merits and flaws of proposed changes to the city’s Title 16 code enforcement ordinance, the condition of many city parks and how the city should manage data center growth, the clock is ticking down to the June 9 primary election that will narrow the field in three heavily contested municipal races.

Mayor Neal McIntyre is facing challenges from John Barchie, Tim Bickerton, Alexis Colosi and Lawrence Ruiz.

In the Fernley City Council Ward 1 race, incumbent Ryan Hanan is being challenged by Gregory Barrett and Debbie Skinner.

In Ward 3, where Councilman Stan Lau was expelled by the council and was unable to seek reelection because of term limits, the race is between Ryan Cross, Roy Edgington and Alyssa Rhyno.

In each of those races, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the primary election will advance to the general election in November, unless one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary.

The last time a candidate in a Fernley municipal race received more than 50 percent of the vote in a primary election was in 2018, when Edgington was elected mayor with 53.18 percent of the vote.

In 2016, two city council races were decided in the primary election. Fran McKay received 55.45 percent of the vote to win the Ward 5 seat, while Sue Seidl won the Ward 4 seat with 52.94 percent.

With early voting coming to a close Friday and Primary Election Day set for June 9, a total of 1,327 ballots had been cast in person in Lyon County during early voting as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 2.

At that time, 3,806 mailed ballots had been returned for processing, and 3,719 of those had passed signature verification and were ready to be counted. Four ballots had been rejected, and 83 still required signature curing.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 9.

Mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before June 9, but the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office recommends voting in person or depositing ballots in a drop box if they were not mailed by June 2.