B.C. sees high voter turnout

Friday, May 27, 2005 | 9:05 a.m.

Boulder City residents are going to the polls early in large numbers, far outpacing turnout in the rest of the Las Vegas area for the June 7 general election.

Through Wednesday, 1,401 people or 13.5 percent of active registered voters have gone to the polls in Boulder City where voting started on Saturday. That's nearly 16 percent higher than the same period of voting in the 2003 general election in Boulder City that featured a mayoral and council race and three ballot questions.

Two Boulder City Council incumbents, Mike Pacini and Andrea Anderson, are facing challengers Jeremy Lilly and Bradley Farmer. On the same ballot, voters will decide whether the city should sell 46.5 acres near the Boulder Creek Golf Course to pay the city's $22 million debt for building the course, and whether to fund a proposed $1.5 million animal shelter.

By contrast, in North Las Vegas, where early voting started May 18, only 1,357 votes or 2.4 percent have been cast in the heated race for mayor between incumbent Mike Montandon and Andres Ramirez.

In Henderson where two candidates, Diana Hampton and Michael Miller, are vying for a new Municipal Court bench, the turnout has been light with 1,563 votes cast, about 1.3 percent.

The smallest turnout so far is the Ward 6 race for Las Vegas City Council in which Mary Gillins and Steve Ross are vying for an open seat. Only 52 votes had been cast through Wednesday.

Voting in Boulder City started strong on Saturday when 398 people cast ballots. It went up to 448 on Monday and dropped to 341 on Tuesday and 214 on Wednesday.

Nearly 53 percent of voters turned out in 2003 for the mayoral race, and City Clerk Pamella Malmstrom said she wouldn't be surprised if the turnout this year surpassed 70 percent.

"There has been so much interest throughout the campaign," she said. "People really feel strongly about these issues."

With 60 percent of the city's voters going to the polls in April 2004 for a recall race involving Pacini and Ferraro, politics has been heated in the city this spring. Residents packed the Boulder City Council chambers in April when a developer unsuccessfully tried to get the city to swap land for a residential development near the McCullough Mountains.

More than 80 percent of Boulder City residents went to the polls in the November presidential election when they narrowly defeated a proposed city land sale next to the golf course. Lilly said that issue is driving turnout.

"I think that since the council put it back on the ballot, there is an uproar about that, and we will get more of a turnout than normal than if it were a standard election," Lilly said.

Anderson said the high percentage of people turning out early shows many people have their minds made up already, but she and Pacini said it's difficult to predict what it means.

Sherman Rattner, a local activist who unsuccessfully tried to get the state Supreme Court to take the land sale measure off the ballot, suspects that issue is driving turnout. Council candidates are also on opposite sides of the land sale, further fueling interest, he said.

"Both sides have been trying to promote their position on it, and we have been successful at raising public awareness," Rattner said. "It is hard to say how it is going to turn out, but it is gratifying to see such strong interest in the community for it."

In North Las Vegas, Ramirez said he's not disappointed by the turnout during the first week. It's nearly double for the same period in the April primary.

"We take a look at the lists every day and our voters are voting," said Ramirez.

Both Ramirez and Steve Wark, the campaign manager for Montandon, said they expect turnout to be about 15 percent. Wark, who called that turnout average, had a different take from Ramirez on what he's seeing from the early voting.

"We know they are our voters," Wark said. "We have done some serious ID work."

There were 48 percent more votes at this point in the April primary in Henderson that featured the mayoral and Municipal Court race.

Hampton said she wishes turnout would be higher but doesn't know how it will affect the Henderson judge's race. She said candidates count on the support of friends and family to help them. Many who will vote are those who are active in the community, she said.

Miller, who finished second in the primary, said he has no idea what the turnout will mean for the race. His campaign has called on Mayor Jim Gibson to back Miller and help get voters to the polls. Gibson left a recorded message with voters on Saturday, the day voting started.

"We anticipated there would be a lower turnout," Miller said. "There is only one race on the ballot."