Heller: Nevada missed chance

Friday, Aug. 3, 2001 | 10:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Secretary of State Dean Heller says the Legislature "missed a genuine opportunity for election reform" by failing to pass several of his proposals, but a county official suggests there were flaws in his bill.

Heller noted the National Commission on Federal Election Reform this week recommended a statewide voter registration system and also to allow voting by Internet for overseas military personnel. The secretary of state had espoused both proposals in Senate Bill 565 that died in the closing hours of the Legislature.

"Nevada could have been a leader on election reform," Heller said Thursday. "We now have to wait another two years to see if Nevada lawmakers take action in 2003."

The national commission was formed after problems in the Florida election. And the commission came up with a number of recommendations, some of them mirroring the suggestions of Heller to the Legislature.

A statewide voter system, Heller said, would serve as a check, allowing the rolls to be cleared of duplicate names, deceased persons and others who are ineligible to vote. That would reduce the chances of fraud, said the secretary of state.

But the county clerks opposed the idea, he said. Carson City Clerk Alan Glover confirmed the counties were skeptical.

Glover said Florida has a statewide voter registration system and it's a "total failure" partly because the Legislature in that state never financed it properly.

The county clerks, Glover said, didn't buy the Heller pitch that it would cut fraud. Carson City and three other adjoining counties hired an independent firm to check the voter lists. Two years ago there were more than 200 voters who were doubly registered. That's cut down to less than 30 during the last voter list examination, Glover said. And this was done at an expense of $100 per county.

In addition, he said, Heller needed $2 million to start the statewide system. And the legislative budget committees cut that out early in the session.

Opposition from the county clerks came down to an issue of money. A political party or candidate must pay 1 cent per name to get the voter list from the counties now. It was never decided whether Heller or the counties would get this money.

Heller has proposed the statewide system three times. Each county would maintain control of its list of registered voters but his office would be the central repository. But the money split was never resolved. Glover said there should be an agreement before this is presented to the 2003 Legislature. But the counties are not going to initiate this plan, Glover said.