Military voters overseas on tight deadline

Jace Radke

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.

For more information about absentee voting, including how to request a ballot, go to www.co.clark.nv.us/election/Mail.htm or call the Clark County Election Department at 455-VOTE (455-8683).

With only eight weeks between Nevada's primary and general elections, any delays or problems could force military absentee voters serving overseas to comply with tight deadlines to return their ballots.

Federal guidelines call for registered voters serving as military personnel overseas to receive their ballots about 35 to 40 days prior to an election, but recounts, challenges to primary results or a printing mistake could shorten that window, Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said.

"There is a lot we have to do in a short period of time, and if everything works perfectly we can pull it off," Lomax said. "Having our primary election so late in the year is not a very desirable situation, because we don't have any extra time should a mistake occur."

Lomax said that there will be more than 500 different versions of mail ballots that will need to be printed and checked prior to the general election.

After the the Sept. 7 primary election there is a seven-day period set aside for Lomax's staff to canvass the votes, followed by a three-day period for recount requests and then by a 14-day period for any challenges of results.

"In a best case scenario, were there are no problems with the canvassing, no recount requests and no challenges, we are down to 42 days until the general election," Lomax said. "It takes about five to seven days to print the absentee ballots."

For the primary, Lomax's office has already had 22,000 requests for absentee ballots, and ballots can be requested up until the Tuesday before the election. In 2000 Clark County had about 60,000 requests for absentee ballots, and Lomax said he expects at least as many this year.

There are more than 160,000 U.S. troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, not including the thousands more in Korea, Germany and other countries throughout the world. About 500 airmen from Nellis Air Force Base are deployed overseas, and there are also about 35 members of a Las Vegas Naval Reserve unit serving in the Middle East.

In addition, as many as 175 soldiers with the Nevada Army National Guard's 1864th Transportation Co. are scheduled to be deployed in August to Fort Lewis, Wash., before being transferred to Southwest Asia in September.

Along with the possibility of late ballots if there is a delay in Clark County, U.S. troops face other barriers when it comes to voting.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has reported that there are long delays in the delivery of mail in Iraq, and the Pentagon's inspector general found that a Defense Department plan to make voting easier for troops overseas is considered a low priority by field commanders.