Election officials predict good turnout in boring post-holiday primary

Brendan Riley

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2000 | 9:26 a.m.

CARSON CITY - The secretary of state's office is hoping that half Nevada's active, registered voters will make it to the polls next Tuesday - but history suggests otherwise.

Susan Morandi, elections deputy for Secretary of State Dean Heller, said Friday her 50 percent estimate might be "super-optimistic," but she's encouraged by strong absentee and early voting.

In the Las Vegas area, some 40,000 people had cast ballots at early-voting sites by late Friday.

Just under 946,000 Nevadans are registered to vote in the primary election, although that includes both active and inactive voters. Morandi's prediction is based on the active voters.

If inactive voters also are figured into the calculation, the turnout estimate drops several points. But that still would higher than the 29-30 percent turnout in the past two Nevada primary elections - among the lowest rates in the nation.

Factors that suggest a low turnout include the lack of any big battles between prominent candidates - unlike two years ago when outspoken movie producer Aaron Russo sought to wrest the GOP gubernatorial nomination from front-runner Kenny Guinn.

Also, Tuesday's primary falls immediately after a three-day holiday - when people might be reluctant to return to their jobs, let alone vote.

Lopsided races are the rule for the major primary contests - especially the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in which former GOP Rep. John Ensign faces two political newcomers. Democrat Ed Bernstein has no primary opposition.

The two other Republicans in the Senate race are Richard Hamzik, a Gardnerville circuit-design consultant who's waging a low-budget campaign; and Fernando Platin Jr. of Henderson, whose phone has been disconnected and whose campaign appears to be nonexistent.

In Nevada's 1st Congressional District race, state Sen. and former Boulder City Mayor Jon Porter is the front-runner in a GOP primary battle against schoolteacher Jim Blockey and former university regent Nancy Price.

The incumbent, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., has no primary opposition.

In the 2nd Congressional District race, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., looks to have an easy re-election bid. In the primary, he has to get past Mitchell Tracy, a political newcomer and Las Vegas claims adjuster, to face Reno schoolteacher Tierney Cahill, a Democrat, in the general election.

In the primary race for a state Supreme Court seat, incumbent Justice Nancy Becker faces lawyers and long-shot candidates Day Williams and Gary Backus.

The top two vote-getters in Tuesday's primary will advance to the Nov. 7 general election.

If there is a race that's causing a buzz, it's state Sen. Joe Neal's Democratic primary battle against casino-backed challenger Uri Clinton. Christopher Montanez also is in the race, although he's not actively campaigning.

Neal, D-North Las Vegas, took on Nevada's biggest casinos by pushing a plan to raise their taxes. Now, he says they're retaliating by backing Clinton's candidacy.

If Neal can get more than half the votes Tuesday, he wins. But if he gets less than half, he'll have to face Clinton in a November runoff contest. No Republicans are in the race.

The battle for Neal's Senate seat - which he first won in 1972 - highlights more than two dozen legislative primary races to be decided on Tuesday.