Early voting and mail ballots still below 5 percent in city of Las Vegas

Friday, March 25, 2011 | 7:37 a.m.

With the first week nearly elapsed, early (5,903) and mail (4,041) ballots have yet to make it to 10,000 out of the 220,000-plus voters in Las Vegas eligible to cast ballots for mayor. Only 600 people voted Thursday, so I don;t see the election captivating folks.

Let's extrapolate a bit: Assume 5 percent after first week, a bit of a surge in second week, so we get to 12 percent at end of the second week. Those will be at least half of the ballots cast -- likely more -- so turnout is not going over 20 percent unless something unusual happens.

I thought Thursday that 50,000 votes were possible. Looking more and more unlikely now.