Washoe official wants voting changes before next election

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

Voter Registrar Dan Burk said about 300 Washoe County voters who said they registered to vote at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles were turned away from the polls last week because there was no record of their registration.

Burk said some potential voters believed they had registered when they checked a box on the DMV form. But filling out that box simply allows DMV to keep track of whether it has given people the option. In the vast majority of cases, people walk away with forms in hand and forget they ever had them, Burk said.

When people do take the time at a DMV counter to fill out a voter registration form, the paperwork is sent on to county election officials and the serial numbers on the forms are logged. Logging in the forms taken by voters would complete the paper trail, he said.

DMV officials are now reviewing their procedures in registering voters and will take Burk's recommendation under advisement, said spokeswoman Kim Evans.

Burk said problems also occur when groups or organizations distribute and collect registration forms but then don't send them in to election officials.

About 18 university students in Reno complained a woman gave them the forms, which they filled out at a campus rally. Then she never turned them in.

Burk also plans to lobby for a change in Nevada law next year to stop the Democratic and Republican state parties from being middlemen in handling absentee ballot request forms.

This year, state party officials asked voters to send them their requests for absentee ballots and then forwarded them to the proper counties. Those requests for absentee ballots should be sent straight to county election officials, Burk said.

Washoe County Democrats, for instance, sent their requests for absentee ballots to headquarters in Las Vegas. The forms were then mailed back to Reno, creating delays of 10 to 11 days in processing thousands of ballots, Burk said.