Clark County happy with modern balloting

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000 | 9:59 a.m.

Clark County commissioners spent more time Tuesday poking fun at the ballot debacle in Florida than ratifying votes cast during a record-breaking election season in Southern Nevada.

"Maybe we should contact Florida and have them visit," Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates cracked.

Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax touted the county for its innovative approach to elections -- a multimillion-dollar electronic voting system and an early voting program introduced in 1994.

"We represent the leading edge of technology," Lomax said of the electronic voting machines first used four years ago. "If Florida had what we have, they wouldn't be undergoing the problems they're having right now."

The so-called "butterfly" ballots that caused confusion in Florida counties are long gone in Clark County. And there will be no recount.

Lomax told the board only eight of the 897 precincts experienced insignificant snafus, which included a mail-in ballot delivered to the wrong precinct and several in which the wrong precinct number was entered into the voting machine.

About 384,000 of the valley's 554,000 active voters turned out, 25 percent more than a previous record set in 1992 and 45 percent more than showed in 1996.

The 167,000 residents who took advantage of the county's 14-day early voting period amounted to about 43 percent of all who voted. The county also received about 50,000 absentee ballots, 30 percent more than in the last election.

Commissioners -- three out of four of whom reclaimed their seats for another four-year term -- unanimously approved the ratification of the votes and congratulated its Election Department staff on its success.

"It was an excellent decision not to use those butterfly machines," Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury said.