Senator seeks voting change

Monday, Nov. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A female voter, tired of waiting in the long line at a polling place in Las Vegas, left for a cigarette and then wasn't allowed to return to vote, state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, charges.

In another case, a man with diabetes grew faint and had to temporarily leave the voter line. He also was turned down when he returned to cast his ballot, Neal said.

These two instances, and many others, he said, merit a change in the law. "You cannot deny the right to vote if a person comes back," said Neal, who two days after the election asked that a bill be drafted for consideration by the 1997 Legislature.

But Clark County Registrar of Voters Kathryn Ferguson said Neal's suggestion would slow down the voting. And she said she doesn't expect the long lines in the Nov. 5 general election to recur.

She warned against a "knee-jerk response." And she said the story about the woman who left for a cigarette was checked out and proved false.

Some voters waited more than two hours to cast their ballots in Clark County, although the average wait was probably 45 minutes to an hour.

When voters arrive at polling places and sign in, they get a card to permit them to vote. But if they leave before voting, they must relinquish the card. And then they can't come back and sign in a second time.

Neal suggested a second sign-in should be allowed. "They are being treated as fleeing voters and denying that person his franchise," Neal said.

More than 1,500 people in Clark County signed up to vote but left before they cast their ballots, apparently because of the lines.

Neal's bill would also require that an adequate number of voting booths be available for voters in a precinct. The county election office should be able to plan for that because it knows the number of constitutional questions on the ballot earlier in the year and has an idea of what the turnout will be, Neal said.

Ferguson said any law that allows a voter to return should be written very tightly with safeguards. This would delay the lines, she said, because a person would be in line twice.

She said she did not hear about the man with diabetes but believes that a person who becomes ill should be permitted to cast his ballot.

Ferguson views the long lines as a "one-time" phenomenon. It was the first time the new electronic voting machines were used in a general election. The number of constitutional questions on the ballot was the largest facing Nevada voters in more than 100 years.

She agreed that more voting machines were needed but it was too late to buy them.

"When we got the final ballot in June, there was no time to buy the machines," she said.

One possibility Ferguson has floated is having off-year elections on the ballot questions only. Some states such as Texas have constitutional questions on the ballot in odd-numbered years and candidates elected in even-numbered years.

She's not suggesting that plan but added there should be further discussion on the pros and cons. Another possibility is to limit the number of questions on the ballot to a "first-come, first-served" system, she said.