Witnesses from bar tell of signing election papers

Judy Odierna

Tuesday, April 15, 2003 | 11:37 a.m.

Patrons of Gary Horrocks' bar told a Clark County grand jury that they were misled by Horrocks into signing fraudulent election documents.

Horrocks was indicted earlier this month on 62 counts of voter fraud, conspiracy and burglary. He faces one to four years in prison on each of the 28 election violation charges and one to four years for each of the 31 counts of forgery. The single burglary charge carries a one- to 10-year prison sentence.

Transcripts obtained Monday revealed numerous people who went to Horrocks' bar were approached by him to sign election documents. Many said they didn't know what they were signing.

Jacqueline Lee Kunkes told the grand jury that she went was drunk when Horrocks presented documents to her at the Clubhouse Tavern, 4001 Las Vegas Boulevard North.

"I just remember a piece of paper and he asked me to help him, to help him get votes, or to help him get elected, and that's all I recall," Kunkes said.

Henry Sauceda, another customer at Horrocks' bar, said he thought he was signing an absentee ballot form at the bar, not a change of address form.

"I was under the impression it was absentee voting I was signing for," Sauceda said. "This part that says address change and new registration, if I would have known that, I wouldn't have signed at all because I think I was already registered to vote at the time."

Sauceda also said Horrocks told him it was all right to use a different address if he intended to move into the district.

Clark County authorities opened the investigation after receiving information from Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, who brought 21 names of voters with fraudulent addresses to the district attorney's office. Those ballots were filed in the Assembly District 37 election in which Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, defeated Republican Francis Allen by 134 votes.