Las Vegas trims number of municipal voting centers to 15 to save money

Voters in the city of Las Vegas will cast their ballots in future municipal elections at one of 15 voting centers, a consolidation of locations that’s expected to save thousands of dollars per election.

The City Council’s action Wednesday, which followed the city of Henderson’s lead, moves away from the past practice of assigning voters to one of 75 different polling places.

“You can work, play, vote anywhere,” Las Vegas City Clerk LuAnn Holmes told the council Wednesday about the voting center model.

The council also directed staff to work with Henderson to pursue legislation that would allow all mail-in ballots in future races and consider in the coming months whether to continue holding elections in the spring of odd years or if they should combine elections with Clark County in November of even years. The latter move would effectively eliminate the cost to the cities when the transition is complete.

The county, which administers municipal elections, recently upped what it will charge cities to fall more in line with the actual cost of elections. An audit found that the county in the past was under-billing the cities based on the cost it actually incurs to administer elections.

If Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City all require both primary and general elections in the spring, county estimates have pegged the shared cost for the four cities at $2.4 million.

In that scenario, had the city of Las Vegas continued with the polling locations model from the past, it would have been responsible for $1.4 million of the cost. With vote centers, that drops to a maximum possible cost of $1.1 million for the city of Las Vegas. County officials have said if the cities moved their elections to November of even years, that $2.4 million could be reduced to nothing, unless there is a special election or a ballot question.

Councilman Stavros Anthony called moving to vote centers “a no-brainer.”

The council also directed city staff to work with Henderson to pursue legislation that would allow the cities to offer all mail-in ballots in elections. Henderson is looking for a sponsor for such legislation, Holmes said, noting that Oregon, Washington and Colorado have had success with all-mail elections.

Mail-in voting would be more convenient for voters and could boost voter turnout, Holmes said.

Cities have been criticized for continuing to hold their elections in the spring because moving them to sync with county elections would offer a substantial annual savings and would likely yield a higher voter turnout.

Mesquite made the move to even-year elections, and won’t be charged by the county for elections. If Las Vegas transitioned to even-year elections, it would need to be spread over a period of time.

The city attorney’s office has suggested the city seek a judicial review of how the move would affect term limits. The only currently-seated City Council member who could be affected is Councilman Bob Beers, who could see a future four-year term shortened to three years if the city moves to combine elections, Holmes said.

The council could vote on whether to combine elections with the county in September or October.

“We have some stuff to think about but we need a little more time to think about it,” Anthony said.

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Find @JamieMunksRJ on Twitter.