Activist challenges voter registrations

Kirsten Searer

Monday, Oct. 11, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

A Republican activist has challenged 17,100 Democratic voter registrations, saying he hopes to tip the outcome of several local races in favor of Republicans.

Dan Burdish, former executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, said he challenged voters with "inactive" status, meaning the county elections department has determined that they no longer live at the address where they are registered.

But the county could give him a fight. Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said this morning that the district attorney is reviewing the challenges and likely will send Burdish a letter today.

"We certainly have some issues with them," Lomax said.

According to state law, inactive voters must remain registered until they have failed to vote in two federal elections. When they do vote, they must return to the precinct in which they are registered, even if it is not the precinct where they live.

The law does say that citizens can challenge people in their precinct or district if they believe the voters no longer live at their registered addresses.

But Lomax said he interprets the law to mean that someone must have personal knowledge that a voter is not longer living in the district.

"If you go to the Web site and challenge everybody who's inactive, to me that does not imply that you have personal knowledge," Lomax said.

The state Democratic Party has decried the challenges, but both the Bush-Cheney campaign and the Nevada Republican Party have said they are not involved.

Burdish would not say which elections he is hoping to influence, except to say he hoped to help Republican candidates. "I'm partisan, I admit that 100 percent," Burdish said.

Burdish said his motivation is that he thinks it is unfair that people could vote in areas where they do not live.