Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

With marquee races decided in primary, officials pare poll workers in anticipation of low turnout in June 4 general election

Elections illo

Chris Morris

The municipal general election June 4 includes three races.

Despite expected low turnout and only three races on the ballot, hundreds of workers will roll out the voting machines and staff the polls for the June 4 municipal general election.

High-profile races for mayor in Henderson and North Las Vegas were settled during the April primaries, while in Las Vegas three city council members swept their way to re-election, leaving little buzz for the upcoming general election.

On Thursday in Henderson, a slow trickle of about 35 voters per hour cast early ballots at one of five machines set up at Desert Willow Community Center, near Horizon Ridge and Green Valley parkways.

With only the race for municipal court judge between Sandy DiGiacomo and incumbent Mark Stevens on the ballot, the city cut back its early voting hours and offered mobile voting sites at fewer locations to help cut down on costs.

Similar measures also are in place in North Las Vegas and Mesquite, each of which has one city council race still to be decided.

“In a big presidential election, we’ll have 45 machines (at an early voting site) and they’ll be busy all day long. In this election we’ll have five or 10 and just a handful of people working them,” said Larry Lomax, Clark County registrar of voters. “We don’t want to waste the taxpayers’ money, so we cut everything way back.”

Lack of interest in the election has translated to the polls, where 6,299 people have cast ballots with two days of early voting remaining. The total compares unfavorably with 15,369 people who voted early in Henderson, North Las Vegas and Mesquite for the primary.

In North Las Vegas, only six polls will be open Tuesday compared with 20 in November’s presidential election.

There also will be fewer workers, an average of seven per polling place instead of 12 like in November. Each poll worker is paid $120 for working a 12-hour day.

Low turnout is common in municipal elections — only 44,000 people, 11.3 percent of registered voters, cast ballots for the primary — especially when there are only a few lower-profile races being decided, Lomax said.

The county explored mailing a ballot to every registered voter in an attempt to increase engagement, but the cost proved to be prohibitive, he said.

“I don’t think you can force people to be interested, but you can make it easier for them to vote,” Lomax said. “If you really want a better turnout, you need to combine them with the even-year elections. But then candidates have to compete with the presidential race for raising funds, advertising or getting any kind of attention.”

Henderson considered using an all-mail voting system during a recent special election but decided against it when it ended up costing more than staffing polling sites.

“It came out to be a lot,” City Clerk Sabrina Mercadante said. “It’s the postage. You have to pay to mail the ballot and you have to pay to return the ballot, whether it’s returned or not.”

Staffing polling sites with workers and machines is only a small part of the city's total cost for an election. Henderson spent $143,000 in the 2011 primary election and $130,000 for the general election, with most of it covering ballot printing and translation costs, plus printing and mailing sample ballots.

Those costs will be slightly lower for the 2013 election, Mercadante said, in part because the city saved on printing costs by using a smaller-sized ballot.

Jim Young said he saw no problems with the current voting setup after casting his ballot Thursday at the Desert Willow Community Center. Nor does he think the city needs to spend more money to make it easier for people to vote.

“To me it’s a big responsibility. We have to take part in our community, whether we’re voting for one candidate or 100,” said Young, a retired law enforcement officer. “This is something people should be an active participant in. If you’re too lazy to get out of the house and vote, then don’t.”

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