Heller sees 75 percent voter turnout

Friday, Oct. 22, 2004 | 11:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Secretary of State Dean Heller said today he is hoping for a 75 percent turnout of the 1.07 million registered voters in the Nov. 2 election, which would be the highest percentage of the vote cast since 1992.

This year has a record voter registration, surpassing the 878,970 in October 2000, he said.

"Hopefully the enthusiasm and interest in this year's elections will carry over to people actually casting their ballot," he said.

In the 1992 general election 78.9 percent of the voters turned out.

Republicans continue to lead Democrats in registrations statewide. There were 434,239 GOP signed up to vote compared with 429,808 Democrats, and 161,620 nonpartisans.

Based on the estimated population of 1.6 million eligible voters, Heller said, 64 percent have registered. That came close to the 65 percent he had hoped would sign up.

Independent American voters totaled 31,517; Libertarian, 6,240; Green, 3,356; Natural Law, 1,081; Reform, 356; and other, 2,884.

In the 1st Congressional, represented by Democrat Shelley Berkley, Democrats outnumber Republicans 135,190 to 92,312, with 41,413 nonpartisans.

Republicans hold a wide lead over Democrats in the 2nd Congressional District, where Republican Jim Gibbons is the incumbent. There are 188,055 Republicans, 140,336 Democrats and 61,574 nonpartisans in the district, which covers part of Clark County and the rest of Nevada.

Democrats hold a slight margin in the 3rd Congressional District where Republican Jon Porter is the incumbent. There are 154,261 Democrats, 153,849 Republicans and 58,617 nonpartisans.