Early voting wraps up today

Dan Kulin

Friday, April 1, 2005 | 11:24 a.m.

Early voting in the Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson ends today, the last chance to cast early ballots before the primary election on Tuesday.

So far voters from the three cities are trickling into the polls. No city is seeing more than a 4.5 percent turnout.

There were 10,898 votes cast in the area through Thursday when 1,447 votes were recorded. Those numbers are down from 23,544 early votes cast two years ago and 15,124 cast during the 2001 primary.

In Las Vegas, Ward 6 voters have 11 candidates from which to choose for City Council, and the only citywide race is for a spot on the municipal court bench. About twice as many non-Ward 6 residents as Ward 6 voters have cast ballots in the election so far, but when measured as a percentage of the number of active registered voters, the Ward 6 voters' turnout is about 1 percentage point higher.

As of 11 a.m. Thursday, 1,285 Ward 6 voters had gone to the polls, which is about 2.5 percent of the active registered voters in Ward 6. And citywide through Thursday, 3,653 voters, or 1.5 percent of active registered voters, had gone to the polls, according to the Clark County Election Department.

In the 2003 primary that featured the mayoral race, there were 11,350 votes cast in early voting in Las Vegas.

Early voting in North Las Vegas is available until 6 p.m. today at the Vons at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Craig Road, and the Smith's at the intersection of Ann Road and Camino El Norte.

Through Thursday, 5,357 Henderson voters had cast ballots in the race, for a turnout of 4.5 percent. There were 6,942 votes casts during early voting in the 2003 primary.

Early voting lasts until 6 p.m. today at the city clerk's office in City Hall and at the Galleria at Sunset mall.

In all cities, candidates receiving more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary are declared the winners and no general election is held. Otherwise, the top two vote getters from the primary will face off in the June 7 general election.