Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.
In the wake of last week's municipal elections, runners-up in the city council races in Henderson and North Las Vegas say the system in those cities makes it harder to unseat incumbents.
In North Las Vegas and Henderson, city council members are elected from wards, to ensure council members will be from different parts of the city. But all city voters get to cast ballots in all wards, so council members are accountable to the entire city.
In Las Vegas, council members are elected only by the voters within their wards, In Boulder City, all council members are elected at large.
Some challengers who hoped, but failed, to unseat incumbents said the hybrid system in North Las Vegas and Henderson hurt their efforts.
"We're a huge city and it's hard to reach the voters unless you have large amounts of money to spend," said Ann Barron, who lost to Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers. "It's hard on candidates to cover a whole city."
The primary results may at first glance support the claim. In the two cities, all of the council incumbents sailed to outright wins, avoiding a general election runoff.
In Las Vegas, on the other hand, Ward 1 incumbent Michael McDonald trailed challenger Janet Moncrief, whom he will now face in the general election. In at-large Boulder City, incumbent Bryan Nix garnered fewer votes than two challengers trying for the two council seats. Still, he qualified to be one of four candidates on the general election ballot.
Actually, one expert said, incumbents have the edge either way.
A ward system can "benefit challengers because they have less territory to cover," said David Damore, an assistant political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "But at the same time incumbents can tighten their grip on a smaller area."
A closer look at the balloting in Henderson and North Las Vegas showed little difference, with only one exception, between voting within an incumbent's ward and throughout the city.
It boils down to money, the challengers say.
Rocco Tucker, who came in second to incumbent Andy Hafen, said the problem with running an at-large race is that it stretches money and campaign volunteers too thin.
Tucker said that of the roughly 70,000 homes with registered voters in Henderson, he and his campaign volunteers visited about 10,000 homes in the months leading up to last Tuesday's election.
"If I did just 10,000 in Ward 2 I probably could have done half the ward," Tucker said. "The resources I had were spread thin and diluted."
Hafen, who won with almost 61 percent of the vote, agreed.
"At-large elections are more expensive because you have to hit 95,000 voters," Hafen said. "But it makes a council person more responsible because you have to get the votes of all the residents."
The incumbents carry the added advantage of being able to raise more money.
Hafen raised $206,498 to Tucker's $110,240 -- and $80,000 of Tucker's war chest came from a loan to himself. Cyphers, who won with 60 percent of the vote, raised about 10 times what Barron did.
If the Henderson council members were elected by the voters in their wards only, challengers could more easily overcome the funding disadvantage, Barron said.
"In a ward race you can reach your voters with less money with door-to-door campaigning and less ground to cover" Barron said.
A ward system "would make it easier for a challenger because you would be able to concentrate money and resources on one particular area," said Bill Dolan, who ran third to incumbent North Las Vegas Councilwoman Shari Buck in the race for the Ward 4 council seat. Buck raised $136,283 to Dolan's $24,570.
But some candidates and challengers defended the current systems in North Las Vegas and Henderson.
Honey Easter, who ran second to Buck and raised $1,155, said the at-large elections might cost more, but she likes the current system.
Requiring council members to live in different wards prevents the council from all being from the same area, which Easter said wouldn't be good for the city.
"It spreads out the representation, while keeping all the council members accountable to the voters city-wide," Easter said.
Buck agreed.
"It's a positive thing the way we are set up. It's not territorial, for only those in your district. You are responsible to the city as a whole," Buck said.
Nelson Stone, who lost to North Las Vegas Councilman William Robinson, said at-large voting may have actually helped him. It allowed him to draw from a more diverse population, he said. He received 43.5 percent of the vote to Robinson's 52 percent.
Stone proved to be on target, according to election figures. Robinson did better in his Ward 2, where he received 61.2 percent of the vote, than he did city-wide.
Change to the hybrid system, if it comes, is likely to come slowly, experts say.
"It's a structural problem for the challengers, but why should incumbents change a system that benefits them?" Michael Bowers, a UNLV political science professor, said.
Cyphers said the day may come in Henderson when it becomes so difficult to reach voters that a switch to a true ward system will be needed.
"It will happen in its own time. When the political winds change," she said.
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