Election marked by low voter turnout

Ed Koch And Steve Kanigher

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2000 | 11:21 a.m.

"Do you ladies need any help pulling the handle for Sen. Joe Neal?" the venerable politician shouted from the sidewalk outside the polling place at Madison Elmentary School in the heart of West Las Vegas.

One of the women, 88-year-old Alletha Roberson, an area resident since 1946, shaded her eyes from the glaring late afternoon Election Day sun, trying to see the hulking figure pleading for her last-minute vote.

She then politely told the man who had represented her district for the past 28 years: "No sir, I don't need any help with that." Inside the voting booth, Roberson marked her electronic ballot for 27-year-old Uri Clinton, Neal's key Democratic primary opponent.

As it turned out, Neal didn't need Roberson's vote. He would get the 50 percent plus one vote required to avoid the Nov. 7 general runoff -- plus six extra votes -- when hundreds of other potential District 4 voters didn't bother to go to the polls Tuesday, much like voters throughout the valley.

"This is the last time (election) for me -- I'll be 69 next time around, and I don't see myself running in my 70s and 80s," Neal, D-North Las Vegas, said.

With Neal winning an eighth four-year term -- assuming that Clinton is not successful on a potential recount and assuming that the Clark County Commission certifies the vote Tuesday -- he can focus on his attempt to increase the taxes paid by the largest resorts.

Should Neal gather the requisite number of petition signatures, his proposed gaming tax initiative to help pay for education and other needs would be brought before the Legislature next year. If defeated there as expected, his initiative would still land on the 2002 general election ballot.

Clinton, who received heavy gaming industry support, opposed Neal's initiative because he said it would force resorts to lay off employees.

Neal's narrow victory was one of the big stories of the day. Other significant events included:

In the Neal-Clinton race, a third candidate, Chris Montanez, who dropped out after the ballots were printed, collected 4.96 percent of the vote, including 7 percent of the early and mail-in votes, to throw a wrench into the works.

Throughout the evening, Neal held the lead but was just shy of the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid the runoff with Clinton. With three precincts of the 38 left to count, Neal cracked the 50 percent plateau with 1,930 votes -- 11 more than the number needed to win outright.

When the final votes were tallied, Neal had 2,034 of the 4,055 votes cast. He needed just 2,028 to avoid the runoff with Clinton, who had 1,820 votes.

Because there is no Republican opponent, both Democrats would have gone through to the general election if neither had gained the majority. Neal said Tuesday afternoon that a low turnout would favor him, and that was what he got.

"The turnout here was slow," said Elsa Garcia, team leader at Madison, echoing what many other precinct captains had to say about that issue. "We had under 200 voters all day. It was disappointing. They just trickled in."

Leslie Craven, assistant team leader at a polling place near Flamingo Road and Twain Avenue said her six volunteers assisted 105 voters: "It was very slow and that made the day very long."

Lomax said he got reports during early voting that when potential voters learned that the presidential race was not on the primary ballot, they said they'd come back in November when Democrat Vice President Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush compete for Nevada's four electoral votes.

For the primary, there were 522,464 active registered voters: 42,904, or 6.97 percent, voted early; 13,066, or 2.12 percent, voted by mail; and 57,534, or 9.35 percent, voted Tuesday.

Also in November former Rep. John Ensign, a Republican, and Democratic attorney Ed Bernstein will vie for the six-year seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev. It has national significance as the GOP fights to not only retain but also add to its 54-46 edge in the Senate.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and GOP challenger, state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, face off for the Congressional District 1 seat and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., will face Democrat Tierney Cahill, a schoolteacher from Reno, in Congressional District 2.