Turnout low for early voting in city elections

Judy Odierna

Monday, March 24, 2003 | 10:52 a.m.

Early voting for the municipal elections was off to a slow start over the weekend, as expected.

Following the first weekend of voting, 1,280 Las Vegas residents cast ballots out of 191,764 registered voters -- about 0.7 percent. The majority, at 670, were cast at the Meadows mall, followed by 571 at various mobile sites and 39 at the City Clerk's office.

Turnout was a little better in North Las Vegas, where the 280 early voters made up 0.7 percent of the total of 39,254 registered. Early voting in North Las Vegas started last Wednesday with 127 votes being cast at the North Las Vegas Clerk's office and 153 through the mobile sites.

In Henderson 0.9 percent of the 96,807 registered voters went to the polls over the weekend -- a total of 893. The majority of votes, 488, were cast at the Galleria mall, followed by 299 through mobile sites and 106 at the clerk's office. In Boulder City 352 out of the 9,399 registered voters cast their ballots for a turnout of almost 4 percent. And in Mesquite 231 of the 4,864 registered voters cast ballots, giving a turnout of 5 percent.

"It's early to make judgments," said Larry Lomax, Clark County Registrar of Voters. "Saturday was higher than expected and Sunday was a little lower. All in all it's what we anticipated."

Lomax said there are usually high numbers the first weekend and through the week he expects things to slow down. Last week Lomax predicted that, at best, 13 percent of active voters would cast ballots in the 2003 primary that ends with the April 8 election. Early voting runs through April 4.

The 2001 primaries drew a 13 percent turnout.

"As it gets closer to Election Day you see more people voting," Lomax said. "The last day is always the busiest."