Republicans take lead among active state voters

Cy Ryan and Steve Kanigher

Friday, Nov. 3, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Going into the general election Tuesday, Republicans hold a slim margin in active voter registration, ending the year-long reign of Democrats.

But the flip-flop is a change only in the way voters are counted.

Secretary of State Dean Heller reported Thursday there were 878,970 active voters in Nevada, with Republicans at 366,431 and Democrats at 365,593. That is an advantage of only 838 for the Republicans.

Ryan Erwin, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, said this is one of the closest registrations in the nation between the GOP and Democrats.

Both sides said it now comes down to a contest of who gets out the voters. That is particularly vital since 146,946 actively registered Nevadans, or 16.7 percent of the state's total registered voters, are nonpartisan or belong to third parties. Those voters could be the difference in close races.

"It looks like a turnout election," Erwin said. "We're confident we're going to do a better job in turning out this year." And he thinks his side will be able to capture a good share of the 122,339 people registered nonpartisan.

David Cherry, a spokesman for the Nevada State Democratic Party, said the Republicans cannot sleep well with only an 838-vote edge. He said he was encouraged by the heavy early voting in Nevada.

"The bigger the turnout the better for us," Cherry said. "Lower turnouts hurt us."

Cherry said Democrats have focused on getting minority and union members to vote.

There are two categories of voters, active and inactive. An inactive voter is one who has not cast a ballot in the last two general elections but still remains eligible to vote.

Through this summer Democrats had an overall lead of more than 1,000 registered voters over the Republicans when inactive voters were added to the mix.

But the 1999 Legislature ordered that voter turnout be computed only on the number of active voters to give Nevada a higher turnout percentage. It also gave the Republicans bragging rights over Democrats.

The breakdown of active voters shows 4,715 registered as Libertarian; 1,411 in the Green Party; 15,454 as Independent Americans; 568 as Natural Law; 769 as Reform Party and 1,690 signed up as other parties.

Clark County has 553,941 active voters or about 63 percent of the state's total. Clark Democrats hold the edge over Republicans 248,799 to 213,104. There are 77,627 non-partisans; 2,621 Libertarians; 656 Green; 9,569 Independent American, 339 Natural Law; 546 Reform and 684 other.

In 13 of the 17 counties, Republicans hold the voter majority.

In Congressional District 1 where incumbent Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley is challenged by Republican state Sen. Jon Porter, Democrats have a solid majority of 168,800 to 127,028. Republicans outnumber Democrats 239,403 to 196,793 in Congressional District 2, where incumbent Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons faces only minor opposition.

In every contested state Senate race this year, the incumbent has the advantage in voter registration.

For instance, Democrats are in the majority in the Clark County districts of Sens. Ray Shaffer of North Las Vegas and Valerie Wiener, Dina Titus and Mike Schneider, all of Las Vegas. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the Districts of Sens. Ann O'Connell and Ray Rawson in Clark County.

In the Assembly, every incumbent, except three, is running in a district in which his or her party has the majority. The only exception in Clark County is Democrat Gene Segerblom of Boulder City where Republicans outnumber Democrats 24,711 to 19,771.

The other two Assembly Districts where the incumbent does not hold a majority in voter registration are Democrats Speaker Joe Dini of Yerington and Bernie Anderson in Sparks.