Mayors race has global appeal

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, June 8, 1999 | 11:27 a.m.

Since the minute Oscar Goodman announced he wanted to be Las Vegas' next mayor, news programs and magazines from as far away as Germany wanted to interview the somewhat legendary criminal defense attorney.

And this morning, the frenzy continued.

The "Today" show featured mayoral candidate Arnie Adamsen's campaign ads blasting Goodman for defending mobs and clips of the attorney's performance in the movie "Casino." CNN also had a segment on the man some fear will bring the mobster image back to Las Vegas.

Newspapers across the country published stories about Goodman's storied past and list of clients that included Chicago mob kingpin Anthony Spilotro, who was eventually buried alive in an Indiana corn field.

The race has probably generated more excitement around the world than it has in Las Vegas. The people who will decide whether Goodman gets to be the next mayor in Las Vegas -- the voters -- appear to be ho-hum about Election Day.

Residents trickled into polling places today, and the atmosphere around the town known for its glitz was more quiet than electrical. In fact, city officials expect only a 30 percent turnout.

Turnout also is expected to be low in North Las Vegas and Boulder City, where city elections also are being held.

Las Vegas City Clerk Barbara Jo "Roni" Ronemus said earlier this week that media reports indicating Goodman was a sure winner might have led to the low early voting turnout.

Polls showed the 59-year-old Goodman ahead by 19 to 35 points while Adamsen said according to his phone polls, he is ahead by a 2-to-1 margin.

It is likely that more people will flip on their computers and watch the results come in than actually get out ot the polls.

So as voters make their way to the polls for municipal elections until 7 p.m., the county's webmasters will be hunkered in a cool warehouse collecting numbers from election officials and dumping them into the computer system.

The county's website -- www.co.clark.nv.us -- typically receives about 25,000 hits a day. November's general election shattered past records when 80,000 people turned to the website to retrieve the latest numbers. Last month's primaries were second with 60,000 hits.

"Elections are definitely our big hit-getters," said Hilarie Grey, the county's public information officer who oversees the website crew. "Even the media turns to our website."

The election site's numbers are refreshed every five minutes, with updates on the percentage of precincts that are final and the percentage of registered voters who have turned out.

Also camping out in the county warehouse today will be volunteers and election officials awaiting the arrival of lock boxes that contain cartridges from voting machines.

Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said of the county's 1,836 voting machines, 618 will be hauled out to various polling sites.

Lomax said fewer machines will be used during the general than in the primaries because the municipal elections draw fewer voters and Henderson candidates won their seats outright during the primary election.

The county loans its machines to the cities and is reimbursed for additional staff.