Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Intrigue, possible lawsuits greet primary Election Day
By ERIN NEFF
REVIEW-JOURNAL
While many Nevadans spent Labor Day relaxing, candidates were campaigning up to the last minute and poll watchers were contemplating legal challenges to today's primary election.
Registered Republicans and Democrats today will decide a number of primary races, including contests for seats in Congress, on the state Supreme Court and in the Nevada Legislature. The political futures of a county commissioner under federal indictment and a state assemblyman caught up in a double-dipping controversy also are at stake.
"Everything is going smoothly as far as the election readiness," Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax said Monday afternoon.
That might not be the case by this morning. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is threatening to file a lawsuit to ensure that election monitors working with the AFL-CIO's nonpartisan Voter Protection Project may talk to voters at the polls about any voting-related problems.
"The wheels are moving toward filing a motion for a temporary restraining order in state court tomorrow," said Richard Siegel, ACLU president.
Lomax said he has no problem if poll monitors stand inside the polling place and quietly monitor what is occurring. But he does not want anyone talking to voters within the 100-foot boundary set up by state law.
"They're saying they want to talk to voters and ask if they want assistance," Lomax said. "But who is going to be policing it if they can (talk to voters) and others can't? We'll see what happens."
The threatened lawsuit comes on the heels of numerous legal challenges to election laws and procedures this year. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule today on whether the registrations of those who registered at the time they signed a petition are valid to qualify the initiative petition. That lawsuit was filed on behalf of a group seeking to legalize possession of one ounce of marijuana, but the case could have broader impact for initiative petitions.
As for today's primary, Lomax anticipates the county is on track for 27 percent voter turnout. Early voting, which ended Friday, resulted in 71,748 ballots being cast.
"Early voting went better than we've seen recently," Lomax said.
Lomax said he will begin releasing results of early voting and previously received absentee ballots about 7:15 tonight. Individual precinct results should be in by about 10:30 p.m.
The only potential slow-down Lomax can foresee in results is with absentee ballots received today. Those ballots now are entered through an optical scan machine and, if the volume of ballots is high, the process could take longer than usual.
"That's the only unknown," Lomax said.
Clark County polling locations each will have at least one voting machine with a voter-verifiable receipt function. The machines are still the touch-screen models used here for years.
Washoe County will use touch-screen machines for the first time this year. Voter Registrar Dan Burk warned it takes voters between 60 and 90 seconds longer to cast a vote than it did when they colored in ovals on the old-style ballot. That could result in longer lines at polling places, he said, and could result in delayed final results. He estimated results by midnight.
A closely watched race will be that of Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, who faces voters for the first time since her indictment on federal public corruption charges. She is in a five-way Democratic primary to keep her District B seat.
Also, Assemblyman Wendell Williams, who was fired from his city of Las Vegas job amid a highly publicized double-dipping scandal, is in a Democratic primary for District 6 with schoolteacher Harvey Munford.
Other noteworthy races are contests for the state Senate, the Supreme Court and Congress.
In Senate 4, which features Culinary Union-backed Steven Horsford and Station Casinos-backed Cedric Crear and three other candidates, unions will be a major factor.
Senate District 5's primary pits veteran lawmaker Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, against Joe Heck, a doctor who has criticized O'Connell's tax votes as inconsistent. O'Connell has charged that Heck is a pawn of the gaming industry.
In Senate District 6, Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, faces a challenge from Assemblyman Bob Beers, who is challenging Rawson's vote in support of the $833 million tax bill in 2003. Beers was a vocal leader in the efforts by 15 Assembly members blocking the tax increase and forcing the Legislature into two special sessions. Rawson argues Beers was an obstructionist.
The Democratic primary in Senate District 1 is drawing interest with five candidates hoping to take on Sen. Ray Shaffer, R-North Las Vegas, in the fall. The candidates include the incumbent's wife, Sharon Shaffer, property manager Mike Schaefer and former assemblyman John Lee.
For the state Supreme Court, two finalists will be picked in each of two races.
In Supreme Court A, the race is between Las Vegas probate commissioner Don Ashworth, Washoe County District Court Judge Jim Hardesty, Reno attorney Kevin Mirch and Clark County Family Court Judge Cynthia "Dianne" Steel.
In Supreme Court E, the race is between teacher Lori Lipman Brown, Reno entertainment attorney John Mason, Clark County District Court Judge Ron Parraguirre and Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Doug Smith.
The top two finishers in each seat will face off in the Nov. 2 election.
Democrats will settle on which of six candidates should battle Congressman Jon Porter, R-Nev., in the 3rd Congressional District this November.
Democrats also will decide if Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., deserves to move on to the general election in the 1st District. Three Republicans also are vying today for the right to advance in the 1st District.
The Republican primary to decide who will to take on Democratic Sen. Harry Reid includes six candidates. Richard Ziser, the Las Vegan who successfully led the effort banning gay marriage in the state's constitution, picked up an endorsement late last week from the National Taxpayers Union.
David Bennett of Pahrump is in a Democratic primary with Angie Cochran for the right to take on Congressman Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., in the overwhelmingly Republican 2nd Congressional District.
Registration for the Nov. 2 general election ends Oct. 2 unless register is in person at the Clark County Election Department, where registration ends Oct. 12.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
