Despite fears, voting went smoothly

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004 | 8:48 a.m.

None of the polling problems that were feared before the election appeared Tuesday, when things went so smoothly in Clark County that poll watchers and poll workers just about held hands and sang "Kumbaya."

"I was prepared for a fight. I was almost disappointed," joked Jesse Ochoa, who was the team leader for the poll workers at Swainston Middle School. Ochoa said he had several Democratic and Republican poll watchers, "and I made them all sit at one table."

Steve Skivington, a Las Vegas lawyer who was a poll watcher for the AFL-CIO Voting Rights Protection Program, said that "all in all we were pleasantly surprised. We went through some training for the worst-case scenarios but those didn't happen."

The lead-up to the election featured charges of voter registration fraud, a couple of lawsuits, a flood of lawyers and political operatives from out of state, and the specter of a close and contentious vote count similar to what happened in Florida in 2002 and what appears to be taking place in Ohio.

But, as Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax nodded toward the scores of election workers sorting computer cartridges containing the votes in Election Central in North Las Vegas Tuesday night, "all these people there did their job, considering the challenges thrown their way."

Secretary of State Dean Heller said that "with the scrutiny and pressure on the election workers in the state, it couldn't have gone better."

Heller announced last week that a state investigation found no evidence of organized voter fraud, although there have been some cases where individuals faked voter registration forms in an attempt to earn more money.

He said that some voter registration groups were paying people on a quota basis, which is illegal. Heller said Tuesday that investigation continues.

Also, the FBI is investigating one case in which a former employee of Voters Outreach of America, a Republican-funded voter registration group, alleged he caught supervisors tearing up Democratic voter registration forms.

The latest claim of fraud came Monday, when someone claiming to represent the Election Department called people to tell them that their polling places changed. Lomax said the county received more than a dozen complaints from residents.

Besides the claims of voter registration fraud, election officials were dealing with two new elements.

This is the first year provisional ballots are allowed, for people who claim they are registered but are not on the rolls. They are only allowed in national elections.

Lomax has said that people who did not bring identification are allowed a provisional ballot, but they must show identification and prove they are registered.

He did not have the figure for how many provisional ballots were cast Tuesday. About 250 were cast in early voting, he said, and he estimated that the number cast in absentee voting and on Election Day could reach 1,000.

Election officials also used new machines in the election, and the testing process went down to the wire.

Despite the mostly smooth meshing of machines, voters and poll watchers, a few isolated incidents took place.

Republicans in Clark County filed a lawsuit just before the polls closed at 7 p.m., asking that their poll watchers be allowed inside the polling stations as the election workers shut down and prepared to transfer their ballots to Election Central, the warehouse in North Las Vegas where votes are counted.

A district judge opened 20 polling places to up to six observers each. However, Lomax said, some of the sites already had closed, and in others the team leader already had allowed some poll watchers in to witness the poll site closing.

Evan Roosevelt, with the non-partisan Election Protection program, said his group heard about one problem at Mojave High School in North Las Vegas.

A man was telling people they could not vote in Spanish.

"Fortunately there was a gentleman doing exit polling, and he told her she could vote," Roosevelt said.

He said the man who told the woman she could not vote then "went up to the (exit poller) and said this isn't their country, they shouldn't vote, and he walked off."

A few voters said they had problems casting ballots.

Among them were:

Perturbed, Fraser asked if there was another Fraser in his precinct, 3491. They said no, but a Michael Fraser had cast an early ballot on Oct. 28 at CCMT 53.

Fraser ended up signing an affidavit saying he hadn't voted early, and he was allowed to cast a provisional ballot. But he said he's upset he doesn't know if his vote for President Bush will count.

As a former full-time military person who is now in the Air National Guard, Fraser said he believes in the president, joking that if the count comes down to a few votes "you'll see me in court."

Foster said a man came to her door about two months ago and said he would send her an absentee ballot. Foster did not what group the man was with, but has received telephone calls from other groups asking her to go vote.

Foster said her son called the Clark County Election Department last week and found out that she was registered to vote, but was not due to receive an absentee ballot.

But Foster was in the hospital this past week, returning home Tuesday and in no condition to leave the house and go to the polls.

She wasn't sure what group the girl that registered her was with, but apparently the registration forms weren't filled out exactly right.

About a month ago, Ventura received a letter from the Clark County Election Department telling her she had to re-register because they needed more information. But Ventura was sick, she said her doctor thinks she may have had a minor heart attack, and was unable to go to the Election Department.

There were a few minor reports of problems at Las Vegas Valley polling sites.

Jack Bingham, who led 13 poll workers at C.V.T. Gilbert Elementary School at 2101 W. Cartier Ave. in North Las Vegas, said the printer jammed on one of the new voting machines being tried at polling sites around Clark County in Tuesday's election.

The problem, which occurred around 8 a.m., was fixed in 10 minutes by replacing the printer with another one, Bingham said.

A polling station in the southwest valley temporarily shut down two polling machines Tuesday morning after a lawyer complained that the machines were broken.

The poll workers shut down the two machines at Lawrence and Heidi Canarelli Middle School immediately after local lawyer Tom Pitaro reported that he couldn't vote on the machines because they were not functioning. He cast his ballot on one of the polling station's older voter machines, an election official said.

"I was able to cast a vote on a third machine," Pitaro said Tuesday. He declined to comment further.

Polling places in West Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and East Las Vegas reported early morning lines but were otherwise quiet throughout the day with no significant problems. Each saw a steady trickle of voters, but most had more poll watchers and volunteers on hand than people casting ballots.

"Things are moving right along," said Craig McNair, Clark County employee and poll supervisor at Woolley elementary school at 3955 Timberlake Dr., near Pecos Road and Alexander Road.

About 200 people had voted as of almost 3 p.m. Tuesday, McNair said, with about six people needing to vote provisionally.

McNair said the poll watchers had all been very cordial and that he had had no problems all day.

"I couldn't ask for anything to run smoother, knock on wood," McNair said.

Election Protection workers outside agreed.

"Things are running exceptionally well," Steven Brady, an attorney volunteering for the vote-monitoring group, said.

Other polling supervisors reported similar calmness throughout the day.

"It's been very smooth," Steve Morris, a Clark County employee serving as the poll supervisor at Rose Garden Senior Center at 1632 Yale Street in North Las Vegas near Jerry's Nugget.

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