Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002 | 12:48 p.m.
To find polling places on the Internet, go to:
http://www.co.clark.nv.us/election/
or call the Election Department at 455-VOTE.
Early voting locations
After months of being pursued by hungry candidates and ballot question zealots, voters can make their final decisions on the races and initiatives beginning this weekend.
Early voting begins Saturday and runs through Nov. 1.
Voters will be able to cast their ballots at any one of seven fixed early voting sites: five are at malls, one will be outside a Las Vegas Athletic Club and another will be at the Clark County Government Center.
Voting stations will also be set up for two to three days at 53 other locations, such as supermarkets and some municipal offices. A complete list of the early voting polling places is available on the Internet through the County Election Department's website at www.co.clark.nv.us/election/, at government offices around the Las Vegas Valley, and will be mailed to voters along with sample ballots.
County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said early voting makes it easier for people to vote.
"It's very difficult for some people to get to a polling place on Election Day because someone's polling place is close to where they live, and many people work far from where they live," Lomax said.
One of the benefits of early voting, he said, is that "any voter can vote early at any early voting place."
Every early voting polling place is equipped to provide any one of the 325 different ballots that will be used in the elections throughout Clark County, Lomax said.
Early voting began locally with the 1994 elections, and quickly grew in popularity.
In the 1994 general election, 5 percent of voters went to the polls early. That percentage grew to 17 percent in the 1996 general election, and 33 percent in the 1998 election. Then in the 2000 general election more voters voted early than on Election Day, Lomax said.
Of those who voted in the November 2000 election, 44 percent voted early, 43 percent voted on Election Day, and 13 percent voted absentee or by mail, he said.
Early voting "allows thousands of people to vote who wouldn't have been able to," Lomax said.
But he said he can't prove whether early voting has actually increased voter turnout, which he said is typically more influenced by whether an election includes a presidential race or controversial candidates or ballot questions.
According to County Election Department figures, about 61 percent of registered voters voted in the 1994 and 1996 elections. In 1998, voter turnout was about 53 percent, and about 69 percent of registered voters voted in the 2000 election.
All votes, those cast during early voting and on Nov. 5, are counted after the polls close on Election Day.
archive
