GOP voter registration edge trimmed

Tuesday, April 20, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- For the second straight month, Democrats have narrowed the lead of Republicans in voter registration in Nevada.

Secretary of State Dean Heller reported Monday there were 360,503 Republicans and 351,813 Democrats in the state, a margin of 8,690 voters, in March. In January, the GOP had a lead of 13,227. That fell to 11,437 in February.

"As the 2004 election draws nearer, we continue to hear that Nevada will be one of the so-called 'battleground states' that could decide the presidential race," Heller, a Republican, said.

"Each party, both at the state and national level, is working aggressively to increase the number of registered voters," he said. "I'm quite sure we'll continue to see such efforts magnify as we move closer to the election."

In all, nearly 900,000 voters are registered in the state. Heller has suggested a million could be registered by November.

The number of nonpartisan voters registered statewide in March was 131,813. The most recent tallies also include 17,942 Independent American Party members, 4,956 Libertarians, 2,551 members of the Green Party, 902 members of the Natural Law Party, 194 Reform Party members and 1,791 people who said they considered themselves to be members of some other party.

Democrats made gains in Clark County, one of only three counties where Democrats hold a majority. The number of Democrats in Clark County rose from 230,088 in January to 240,364 in March. The number of Clark County Republicans went from 201,809 to 207,973.8