Number of Nevadans casting votes rises

Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 11:21 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A record number of Nevadans -- 261,503 -- voted in Tuesday's primary election, surpassing the previous high of 257,645 set in 1998, Secretary of State Dean Heller said Wednesday.

Although the number of voters set a record, the voter turnout was only slightly better than recent primary elections, Heller said.

This election 27.6 percent of the eligible voters went to the polls, Heller said. That's higher than the 27.2 percent in the 2002 primary election and the 22.7 percent in the 2000 primary election. But it is lower than the previous five elections dating back to 1990, he said.

The highest turnout since 1990 was 44 percent in 1994. The lowest turnout on record was in 1960, when only 19 percent cast their ballots.

Heller said as a general rule, primary elections do not draw a major turnout. But he said there is a lot of interest in the presidential race and the questions on the ballot. He said he expects a turnout of about 70 percent in the general election. Heller said 138,181 Nevadans voted on Tuesday and 104,667 cast their ballots early in the two weeks preceding the election. Early voting totals were up from the 75,921 in 2002.

There were 18,655 absentee ballots cast.

The new touch-screen voting machines worked "extremely well" in the primary election, he said. But there were some human errors involving the reporting procedures by poll workers in Washoe County that delayed the final count.

Late Tuesday night Washoe County elections officials discovered there were 50 missing computer cartridges that contained the vote results from several precincts. About half of them were found in a bag in the election headquarters. The rest had to be tracked down. Most were left in the voting machines at the polling places, which had been locked up.

The final tally from Washoe County wasn't completed until nearly noon on Wednesday.

County commissions and city councils throughout the state now will certify the final results to make the vote official. That must be completed by 5 p.m. Tuesday.