Voter registration increases

Thursday, July 22, 2004 | 9:31 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In the past month voter registration in Nevada has increased by 16,465 with Democrats continuing to narrow the lead of Republicans.

Secretary of State Dean Heller reported today that 882,602 people were signed up to vote at the end of June.

"With Nevada being declared a 'battleground state,' the registration numbers will most likely continue a steady upward climb as more and more groups work to enlist additional voters," he said.

Republicans have 363,463 voters registered, compared with 354,950, a margin of 8,513. At the end of May the GOP had a lead of more than 10,000 voters over Democrats.

"As we draw nearer to this year's elections, we're continuing to see the voter registration totals between the two major parties inch closer and closer each month," Heller said.

He said about 52 percent of the eligible Nevada voters have signed up to vote, and he hopes that figure will increase to 65 percent of the estimated 1.7 million eligible voters.

Non-partisan voters total 132,778, Independent American, 20,459; Libertarian, 5,102; Green, 2,697; Natural Law 889, Reform 209 and Other 2,055.

Heller noted that in Congressional District 3 in Clark County represented by GOP Rep. Jon Porter, Democrats trail Republicans by 718 votes. Last month the lead was 1,050 Republicans. There are 126,966 GOP voters, 126,248 Democrats and 47,549 non-partisans.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in Congressional District 1 in Clark County where the incumbent is Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. There are 106,931 to 73,125 Republicans and 32,956 non-partisans.

Congressional District 2, where Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is the incumbent, has 162,322 Republicans, 121,745 Democrats and 52,25l non-partisans. This district includes part of Clark County and the rest of the state.

Democrats hold the edge in registration in only three counties -- Clark, Mineral and White Pine. There are 239,638 Democrats in Clark County with 206,729 Republicans and 83,313 non-partisans. Mineral has 1,139 Democrats and 845 Republicans and White Pine has 2,077 Democrats and 1,732 Republicans.