Election attracts few voters to the polls

      Heavy-equipment operator Joe Tadlock joined the few and the proud who turned out to vote in Tuesday's municipal elections.
      "If you don't vote, you shouldn't complain" about the performance of elected officials, said Tadlock, who voted at a fire station near the Santa Fe Hotel in the northwest Las Vegas Valley. Still, he admitted, "If there'd been a long line here or some fiasco, I wouldn't have waited."
      To vote in November's general election, Tadlock waited 2 1/4 hours, joining voters around the county who endured long lines. But a short ballot, low voter turnout, additional polling places and additional electronic voting machines meant no waiting at most polls Tuesday.
      The election overall appeared to go smoothly. Although tabulation by the Clark County Election Department took all night in the September primary, the tally Tuesday night took until just 10 p.m.
      Katz Elementary School in the northwest valley used eight electronic voting machines during the November election and "the people were backed up in droves," recalled poll coordinator Mitzi Wright. "Now we have 10 machines and not a voter in sight."
      Two machines were added at the location because of an increase in voter registration as well as data that showed the poll had processed voters at below-average speed, said Lee Haney, assistant registrar for voters.
      Election officials reported few problems with the more than 820 electronic voting machines used Tuesday. At one Green Valley polling place, there was trouble powering up two of the machines, one of which could not be used during the day, Voter Registrar Kathryn Ferguson said.
      City clerks in Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas had predicted that fewer than one out of four voters would turn out to vote. The city clerks in Boulder City and Mesquite estimated that roughly half of voters would go to the polls.
      Municipal primaries typically draw few voters in Clark County. In 1994, the turnout in Las Vegas was 22.6 percent. Henderson's turnout was 19 percent. In North Las Vegas, the turnout was 27 percent.
      Some voters said they were drawn to the polls by council races. Tadlock said he'd wanted to cast his vote in the race between incumbent Matthew Callister, Larry Brown and David Hough. But he said of the one other contest on his ballot, "I haven't got a clue who the people are in the judge's race."