State Supreme Court makes Nov. 2 election results official

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2004 | 10:10 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court canvassed the vote Tuesday, meaning the results of the Nov. 2 election are now official.

Voter turnout was 831,563, or 77.4 percent of the 1,074,083 persons registered. There were 346,823 voters who cast their ballot early compared with 396,952 who voted on election day. Absentee turnout was 87,788. In Clark County, more people voted early than on election day -- 271,465 to 222,036.

The final election results show President Bush winning 50.4 percent, or 418,690 votes, to Sen. John Kerry's 47.8 percent, or 397,190 votes. Bush won in every county except Clark County.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., gathered 61 percent, or 494,805 votes, to 35.1 percent, 284,640 votes, for Republican Richard Ziser. Reid won in nine counties, including Clark and Washoe, and Ziser captured the majority in eight counties.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., collected 65.9 percent, or 133,569 votes, to Republican Russ Mickelson's 31.1 percent, or 63,006 votes, in the 1st Congressional District.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., piled up 66.5 percent, or 195,466 votes, in the 2nd District, compared with 27.9 percent, or 79,782 votes, for Democrat Angie Cochran.

Republican Rep. Jon Porter won a second term in the 3rd Congressional District with 54.5 percent, or 162,240 votes. His Democratic opponent, Tom Gallagher, received 40.4 percent, or 120,365 votes.

Washoe County had an early vote of only 34,061, compared with 106,837 votes cast on election day. Washoe Voter Registrar Dan Burk said one of the problems with early voting in his county is that the largest mall complex in Washoe County refused to allow early voting machines to be set up. In contrast, he said, the large malls in Clark County permitted machinery for early voting.

Washoe County also had the lowest turnout statewide at 68.22 percent. Burk said a large number of young people registered to vote but never turned out to cast ballots. He said the same percentage of young people voted this election as in the past, reflecting nationwide turnout of young voters.

The most recent election was the first for Nevadans to use the electronic voting machines that also produced a paper trail of the votes. Secretary of State Dean Heller said he ordered each county clerk or registrar of voters to conduct a post-election audit to compare the electronic numbers with the paper record.

He said 145 voting machines were audited with 64,424 persons casting ballots; there were no discrepancies.

"Nevada has successfully completed an historic day in the advancement of voting technology by demonstrating to the nation and the world that the inclusion of a paper record on touch-screen voting machines can be accomplished without the plethora of problems that doomsayers had predicted," said Heller in a prepared statement.