Polling places are off to a slow start

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

Longtime Clark County Election Department team leader James Barber opened the polling place at Desert Willow Community Center in Henderson at 7 a.m. today, looked out the door and saw something he had never seen before.

Nothing.

"I've been doing this since 1990, and this is the first time there was no one waiting in line to vote," said Barber, who for five years has been in charge of the Green Valley site.

The polling place often has a good early-morning turnout of area seniors and commuters who pop in to cast their ballots before work.

"I once worked Goodsprings and, even in such a small community, we had people at the door tapping their feet waiting for the polls to open," Barber said. "I guess strong early voting has a lot to do with our slow start today."

By 8 a.m. just 10 people had cast ballots at four Desert Willow precincts.

A similar situation existed in northeast Las Vegas where there were no lines waiting at neighboring Ed Von Tobel Middle School and Fay Herron Elementary school, when the polls opened.

"We have six precincts, 10 volunteers and four machines -- we can take care of about 2,000 voters here," said Von Tobel team leader Robert McNamara, who has worked local polls for six years. Asked what he thought the turnout would be at his site today, he said, "Low."

Voter turnout for the primary election was expected to be about 25 percent. But before the polls opened, more than half of those expected to vote already had, election officials said.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said that between the record turnout for the two-week early voting period that ended Friday and mail-in ballots, 55 percent to 58 percent of the total anticipated votes were cast. Those votes will be counted in a matter of minutes after polls close today at 7 p.m.

That compares with the results of the 2000 presidential general election, where 44 percent of those who voted did so during the two-week early voting period, 43 percent voted on Election Day and 13 percent voted by mail, Lomax said.

There were no mechanical glitches reported early today with the 1,500 machines at the 322 polling sites, Lomax said.

"The one message I have for people who waited for today to vote is don't be afraid of lines because there won't be long lines at your polling place," Lomax said. "I can assure you that 1996 is history."

Lomax was referring to the general election that year where waits in lines were, at some places, two to three hours, and the polls had to remain open until after 10 p.m. so that everyone who wanted to vote could. It inspired early voting.

"I hope the good early voting turnout will reflect a better overall turnout than what we expect," Lomax said. "I wish that more than 25 percent of registered voters would vote."

At the end of early voting Friday, a record 58,037 Southern Nevadans had cast ballots -- 8,974 of them on the final day. The previous primary early voting record was 42,904 in 2000. About 14,000 mail-in ballots had been received by early today.

The Meadows mall was the busiest of the seven permanent early voting places with a turnout of 8,660 -- 1,587 on Friday -- followed by the Galleria at Sunset mall in Henderson with 8,598. The Boulevard mall was a distant third, with 5,502 ballots cast.

The seven mobile voting units that went to various parts of the Las Vegas Valley throughout the two-week process collected 20,245 ballots.

"It has been very busy here today," Bill Pendarvis, the team leader at the Galleria mall, said Friday. "By 1 p.m, 400 people voted and we still had seven hours to go."

By day's end Friday, 1,506 Galleria mall-goers had cast ballots.

"We were going to vote a week ago, but we had to go out of town, so we decided to come down today to vote -- that's convenience," said Bob Barker, who went to the Galleria to vote with his wife of 43 years, Jan, both residents of Las Vegas since 1942.

"I think you get more attention from the polling workers when you vote early," Jan Barker said. "If there is something I don't understand, I don't mind asking someone for help. When I voted on Election Day, I was hesitant to bother them because they were so busy."

James Wren-Jarvis, a Southern Nevada resident of 34 years, noted, "On Election Day there are lines, especially at the smaller precincts where there are fewer machines. No lines here."

For Heidi Lozano, a 14-year Henderson resident and young mother pushing her baby in a stroller at the mall Friday, voting fit right into her planned daily schedule. "I did my shopping, then voted," she said. "I believe I'll always use early voting."

Donna Hushaw, a Boulder City resident of 22 years, made early voting part of a lunch and shopping date with friend Judy Halbeisen, a Southern Nevada resident of 17 years, the last nine in Green Valley.

"Sometimes I'm concerned about voting too early, that's why I waited until the last day of early voting," she said. "I could not vote two weeks early because, especially in years where there is a presidential election, I like to study the candidates and issues until as close to Election Day as possible."

Halbeisen said she was not afraid that by voting early she would miss anything important in last-minute campaign fliers, political ads or news stories.

"I think by now you pretty much know who you are going to vote for," she said.

Lomax said early voting was neck-and-neck between the parties with 26,797 Republicans voting early and 26,497 Democrats voting early. However, Lomax said, there are about 30,000 more registered Democrats in Clark County than Republicans.