Political parties out to register voters

Kirsten Searer

Monday, March 8, 2004 | 11:21 a.m.

No Nevada resident will be safe this year from the legions of volunteers armed with clipboards and looking to bolster the ranks of registered voters.

They were at this past weekend's NASCAR races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They're going to a farmers' market in Henderson. And they plan to contact every University of Nevada, Las Vegas student at least three times before November to try to "Rock the Vote."

The state might even see a visit from "Reggie the Registration Rig"-- the 18-wheeler truck outfitted with large-screen TVs and information on voting that was launched by Republicans this week.

Nevada has one of the most dismal voter registration rates in the country. And in a state where President Bush won by just 21,597 votes in 2000, political parties are looking to register voters as a way to get a leg up in this year's elections.

"It will make a huge difference," said Yier Shi, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, which hopes to register 57,000 new voters in Nevada before November.

"Four states were decided by 28,000 votes last election, and this year we're expecting a close race again," Shi said.

As of January, 339,503 Democrats were registered in Nevada, compared to 352,730 registered Republicans, according to the Secretary of State's office.

Nevada sees a net increase of about 6,000 new residents each month, and with an estimated one-third of them coming from California, the state Democratic party hopes it can win an edge by registering new residents, said spokesman Jon Summers.

Democrats have been updating voter files and knocking on doors for months in preparation for November, said chairwoman Adriana Martinez.

"You could actually say the Democratic Party is organized," she joked.

According to 2000 census figures, Nevada ranks just above Hawaii in the percentage of residents registered to vote.

Just 52.3 percent of eligible Nevada voters were registered during the census survey, compared with the national average of 63.9 percent. Other southwestern states -- Arizona, California and New Mexico -- all ranked among the bottom states in the country.

When it comes to registered voters turning up at the polls, Hawaii again ranks last, with California tailing at 49th.

But Nevada pulls in at 48th, with just 46.5 percent of registered voters casting ballots in the 2000 election, according to the census figures.

The political parties aren't the only ones looking to capitalize on the interest in this election. Activists hope to use grassroots and Internet strategies to get people motivated.

The best example of that might be the Internet campaign run by former presidential candidate Howard Dean, whose supporters in Nevada received daily updates from his campaign and regularly gathered in groups of 100 or more to show support for the former Vermont governor.

Dean supporters around the nation gathered one more time in meetings set up over the Internet on Wednesday night, including one at Hamburger Mary's in Las Vegas.

Cari Wells, a Las Vegas supporter, said she has always ignored politics, but participating on the Dean Internet site was "such a neat experience."

"And I'm not even that computer-oriented," she said. "You just felt like you were checking in with people every day."

In February, a Dean meeting at the Las Vegas restaurant drew a standing-room- only crowd.

Supporters said they weren't discouraged by the dwindling attendance in the wake of their candidate's departure from the race. They said their Internet network will continue to push their message through November.

"Look at it this way," said Dean supporter Paul Schmier. "Our candidate lost. He's not running for President anymore. And we still have nine people here."

Nevada's political numbers also have drawn interest from the New Voters Project, a nonpartisan group that hopes to register 20,000 people aged 18 to 25 years old in Nevada this year.

The group is focusing on six states: Wisconsin, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Colorado. Since 1972, when 18-year-olds won the right to vote, the turnout of younger voters has gone down, said National Field Director Heather Smith, who was at UNLV on Thursday for a meeting to organize the group's efforts here.

The group won't just target college students -- it will work with employers and even go to concerts or other venues where young people hang out, said state director Katie Selenski.

The percentage of young Nevada voters is particularly low, with a 31.1 percent registration rate, compared with the 45.4 percent national average.

And those who are registered and cast ballots in 2000 was 25.8 percent compared with the 32.3 percent national average, according to census figures.

There are some indications that the hype associated with this year's election already has made a difference, said Larry Lomax, the Clark County Registrar of Voters.

So far this calender year, his office has registered about 20,000 new voters, he said, compared with 14,000 who registered in the same period in 2000, the last presidential election.