Turnout light in municipal election

By Kyle B. Hansen, Jean Reid Norman

Published Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 10:30 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 7:40 p.m.

Voter turnout has been light throughout Clark County today for the municipal primary elections.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m.

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Polling places in North Las Vegas had a slow but steady stream of voters throughout the day.

As of 3 p.m., 3,107 people had voted in the city's 20 polling places, the Clark County Election Department said.

Voters there will narrow down a field of five mayoral candidates to replace term-limited Mayor Michael Montandon, who is actively campaigning to take Gov. Jim Gibbons' seat in the next gubernatorial election. The city also has two contested judicial positions.

Voters in Ward 1 and Ward 3 are also choosing new representatives to the City Council.

Doris Reeves, who has lived in North Las Vegas since the mid-1960s, went with her daughter and granddaughter, who was too young to vote, to the Neighborhood Recreation Center to cast her ballot. She said she's excited to vote and knows some of the candidates.

"Two out of three isn't bad," she said, explaining that one candidate went to school with her children and another was a good friend of her husband.

The polling place at the Neighborhood Recreation Center on Bruce Street benefited from the activities at the center and from hosting six precincts instead of the usual two or three. More than 100 people had voted there by 1 p.m., election officials said.

"I feel that we have to get rid of some of the people in (government)," said voter Viola Villanueva. "I don't like what's going on and want to get some new people in there."

Findlay Middle School had seen about 50 voters by noon.

"We did have someone here waiting right at 7," said poll worker Tabitha Kast. "That was the morning rush, and then it was nothing."

"Not too many people know about the judges," she said. "And people don't care about the mayor as much as the president."

Poll workers at Lincoln-Edison Elementary, on Berg Street near Cheyenne Avenue, reported a similar slow stream of voters, with about 40 people voting by noon.

HENDERSON

In Henderson, voters are deciding three races: mayor, which has drawn five candidates to replace term-limited James Gibson; City Council, which has six candidates to fill the seat of Councilman Jack Clark, who has also reached his term limit; and municipal judge, where incumbent Douglas Hedger is in a race against police officer Z. Matthew Zobrist.

Voters were heading to 15 centralized vote centers in Henderson for the second time. In 2007, City Clerk Monica Simmons launched the vote centers, reducing the number of polling places but allowing people to vote at any of the locations on Election Day. In the past, people could cast an early ballot at any location, but on Election Day they had to vote at their assigned polling place.

As of 5 p.m., 4,662 people had voted in Henderson, county election officials said.

At the Henderson Multigenerational Center, a new voting site this year, parking had become a problem. The polling place was in a classroom sandwiched in between Pilates and line dancing, and children attending city Parks and Recreation track break programs filled the hallways.

Election greeter Tedie Jackson headed out to the parking lot with six orange cones marked "Voter Parking" and set them out at spaces near the entrance.

The activity may have created a parking problem, but it also was increasing awareness, she said.

"It's been good," she said. "People are coming out of classes and saying how convenient it was."

At Sun City Anthem, a fire alarm halted voting for a bit, but by 10 a.m., 200 people had voted at the site, Simmons said. By 5 p.m., it had the highest turnout of all 15 vote centers at 758.

Simmons said she hoped to end up with a 15 percent voter turnout.

"We just passed our 2007 total, so that's a plus," she said.

Two years ago, 12,750 people total voted. Between early voting and mail-in ballots, 10,400 votes had already been cast, she said. She noted that more people are registered to vote this year than in 2007.

At Desert Willow, friends Adele VandeHouten and Clarice Irwin, both Sun City MacDonald Ranch residents, stopped to vote on their way to the Literary Guild meeting. After that, they said, they had a mah jongg game to attend. They were two of the 548 voters who cast a ballot at that location by 5 p.m.

They would have made the effort to vote anyway, but the location made "made it too easy to come over," Irwin said.

BOULDER CITY

Boulder City voters are casting their ballots today in a contentious City Council race that will fill seats being vacated by Councilman Mike Pacini, who is term-limited, and Councilwoman Andrea Anderson, who says she is retiring.

As of 3 p.m., 709 people had voted in Boulder City, according to election department statistics.

Earlier today, turnout at Martha P. King Elementary School in Boulder City was "slow but steady," team leader Ed Helal said. Three precincts were assigned to that polling place.

"It's just mostly people doing their civic duty," Helal said.

But people who came to King to vote said they thought this election was significant in Boulder City politics.

"This election is even more important than the one two years ago was," when council members Linda Strickland and Travis Chandler were elected, said Frank Fisher, who came with his wife, Bonnie Jean, to vote. "I don't have the confidence that voters will do the right thing, but I hope they do."

Dave Nilson, who stopped to vote on his way to work, said, "The City Council is at a crossroads as to which direction the city is going to take."

Edith Connors agreed that this election is important, "but as to who or what is going to do best, it's a guess to me," she said.

Jackie Gale said she thought there could be an outright winner for one of the council seats in the primary. That would require that more than 50 percent of voters choose the same candidate. Strickland won her council seat in the primary in 2007.

During early voting, March 18-April 3, 2,347 Boulder City residents voted, according to the Clark County Election Department.

Voter turnout is expected to be low overall, but some of the municipalities, like Boulder City and Mesquite, could see as high as a 45 or 50 percent turnout, said Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax.

Henderson and North Las Vegas were expected to see about 15 percent turnout, and Las Vegas could be as slim as 5 or 6 percent, Lomax said.

LAS VEGAS

Voters in Las Vegas Ward 6 and Ward 4 went to the polls to choose new city council members, but for other parts of the city, the only contested position was a municipal judge -- which meant low voter interest in some areas, election officials said.

As of 3 p.m., 3,107 people had voted in Las Vegas out of 243,566 registered voters, according to the county election department.

The voters were few at Westminster Presbyterian Church, which is near the intersection of Lake Mead and Decatur boulevards. Poll workers there said that the lack of positions to vote for meant voter apathy.

"This is the worst, the lowest turnout," said team leader Mercedes Joseph, who has worked eight elections at the site. "The ballots here just have one judge on them."

Poll worker Mark Schaffer, working his second election, agreed that the low turnout was because of the shortage of candidates.

"People aren't that interested in the judges," he said.

At Centennial High School in the northwest valley, some of the 12 poll workers stood outside enjoying the fresh air at about 9 a.m. while waiting for voters.

Two hours after opening, just four people had cast a ballot from the six precincts that use the polling place. And two of the voters were also poll workers.

The workers attributed the light morning turnout to people voting early and some parents sleeping in because their children are on spring break.

At the Summerlin Library, there was a steady stream of library patrons, but by 10 a.m., only five people had stopped by to vote in the designated area just off the lobby.

Sun City Summerlin was a slightly different story with a steady stream of a few people at a time voting at the Desert Vista Community Center.

By 9:30 a.m., the eight precincts had turned out more than 70 voters.

"It's just kind of a steady flow all day here," said Cathy Hale, the team manager for the polling location.

But Hale, who has worked the past six elections in Sun City Summerlin, said the turnout was still light compared to the presidential elections.

"In November we were much busier," she said, noting that this was the first time there weren't voters waiting at the door when the location opened at 7 a.m.

Voters there said they mostly came because of their civic duty rather than a particularly strong interest in a certain candidate or issue.

Ruth Howell said she voted because she always does.

"I did feel that I knew a little about one candidate," she said. "But I didn't vote on the judges. What do I know about judges?"

Richard Longfield said he voted because of his dissatisfaction with the results of the last election.

"I came because it's important to me who is in government," he said.

Sun reporter Cara McCoy contributed to this story.