Bush camp mails flood of absentee ballots

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.

The Bush-Cheney campaign is betting on a large number of absentee ballots making a significant dent in this year's election, having flooded Clark County with an unprecedented 370,000 unsolicited ballot request forms this week.

The effort is so ambitious that the number of ballot request forms, a variation of those voters must fill out to receive an absentee ballot from the Clark County Elections Department, outnumber registered Republicans in the county, Larry Lomax, Clark County registrar of voters, said this morning.

Republicans comprise roughly 224,000 of the county's 603,000 registered voters. Democrats account for another 269,000 voters, Lomax said.

Elections officials were contacted last month by the campaign, who told them they planned to independently send out the forms, a common tactic in presidential elections, Lomax said. In the 2000 election about five campaigns sent out similar fliers.

But the Bush campaign's effort this year is the largest, he said.

"This is a huge effort," Lomax said. "It surprised us because there aren't that many Republicans in Clark County."

Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Bush campaign, said the effort was being directed at other states as well, though she couldn't confirm details.

"As many states, including Nevada, continue to provide significant opportunities for citizens to vote, we will continue to work aggressively to turn out the vote -- including through the absentee ballot," Schmitt said.

"We anticipate close elections," she said, "and will work hard to make sure everybody understands how high the stakes are."

By law, any campaign sending out the forms must contact elections officials more than two weeks before the mailing is to begin, Lomax said. Mailers must also clearly specify which campaign sent them.

The mailers in 2000 caused a degree of confusion when duplicate ballot forms flooded the elections department after voters mistakenly filled out more than one form, Lomax said. The confusion creates delays as employees work to verify the new forms to ensure voters cannot vote twice, he said.

The Bush mailers contain a slogan, "You can Defend America's Freedom. Vote Today" on the cover and contain a side-by-side comparison of the president and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry inside that supports Bush.

Jon Summers, a spokesman for Nevada's Democratic Party, said the effort solidified Nevada as a so-called "Battleground State."

"It serves as another reminder of where Nevada stands in this election," Summers said. "In every election your vote counts but especially in this election."