County expects early voting crush

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 | 1:30 a.m.

Early voting for the Nov. 2 general election begins Saturday and goes through Oct. 29. To find the early voting site nearest you and hours, visit the Clark County Election Department's Web site at accessclarkcounty.com/election or call 455-VOTE (8683).

With voter registration rolls bolstered by aggressive "get out the vote" drives this year, Clark County's early voting option is getting ready for another crush of residents ready to cast their ballots starting Saturday.

In the 2000 presidential election, the program proved so popular that the same number of voters cast their ballots early as turned up at the polls on Election Day, according to Larry Lomax, Clark County registrar of voters. That year 44 percent of voters cast their ballots early, the same percentage as voted on Election Day. The remaining 12 percent voted by absentee ballot.

Since early voting officially started in 1996, the percentage of residents casting ballots before the election has steadily grown, from 17 percent the first year to about 57 percent in 2002, Lomax said. A pilot program in 1994 saw about 5 percent voting early.

Clark County's voter rolls have swelled to more than 685,000 residents since the September primary, Lomax said. About 90,000 voters have registered since Sept. 7, roughly three times what election officials normally see during that period, he said.

Based on the 2000 presidential election, about 70 percent -- 478,000 voters -- can be expected to go to the polls either before or on Election Day, he said.

But Lomax said this year's election could prove more unpredictable than those in the past.

"It's the whole thing about us being a battleground state," he said of Nevada being one of the states considered up for grabs. "It's hard to go to the grocery store without someone trying to register you to vote."

Sixty-seven early voting sites scattered throughout the county will be open from Saturday through Oct. 29, the Friday before the Nov. 2 general election. The sites are divided into "permanent" sites, which are set up in shopping malls and Election Department offices for the duration of early voting, and short-term neighborhood sites.

The permanent sites, which will be open every day during the early voting period, will be at:

Boulevard mall, Maryland Parkway and Desert Inn Road

Centennial Center, 6401 Centennial Center Blvd.

Galleria at Sunset mall, Sunset Road and Stephanie Street

Las Vegas Outlet Center, Warm Springs Road and Las Vegas Boulevard South

Meadows mall, Valley View Boulevard and Meadows Lane

Las Vegas Athletic Club -- a trailer in front of the club's entrance, 5200 W. Sahara Ave.

The Strip -- a trailer behind the Mirage, on Industrial Road near Spring Mountain Road

Clark County Government Center, Regional Transportation Commission, 600 S. Grand Central Parkway

For a list of dates and places for the temporary locations, go to the Clark County election Web site accessclarkcounty.com/election.