Jim Seebock leading in Henderson’s first ward-based election

Preliminary results in Henderson’s Ward 1 City Council special election showed Jim Seebock, an assistant sheriff with the Metropolitan Police Department, leading in the race to fill the seat previously held by Mayor Michelle Romero.

Ward 1, which encompasses the southeast corner of the city, has over 54,000 voters, according to City Clerk Jose Luis “Louie” Valdez. As of Tuesday afternoon, 13.7 percent of the ward’s eligible voters had cast a ballot, with the majority of coming from mail-in ballots.

Only residents of Ward 1 were able to vote in this election, after a ballot measure passed last year introduced ward-only voting for city council seats.

Election results may still change as the county has until Friday to accept mail-in ballots postmarked for Election Day. All cured ballots are expected to finish processing on Monday, April 10, according to county spokesman Dan Kulin. The results will be finalized by the city on Thursday, April 13, with the winner being sworn in at the City Council meeting on April 18.

The election is Henderson’s first special election to fill a ward vacancy and its first special election to use mail-in ballots, according to Valdez.

Seven candidates are vying for the empty seat: Seebock, Boulder City Police Commander Aaron Johnson, local business owner Alex Kleytman, lifelong Ward 1 resident Ali Nilson, perennial candidate Eddie Hamilton, former state Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury and business strategist Tim Cox.

Early results posted Tuesday afternoon showed Seebock leading with 26 percent of the vote, trailed by Johnson with 20.8 percent and Woodbury with 20.2 percent.

Seebock said Monday night that he was feeling cautiously optimistic about the early results, but that he was growing more and more confident about his chances of victory.

“We’ll be keeping a close eye as the results continue to come out,” he said.

‘That much closer to home’

Monday’s election was the first ward-based election in the city’s history.

Romero, who vacated the Ward 1 seat after being elected mayor last year, said it was very important to her that the vacancy be filled via a special election as opposed to an appointment.

“I felt like voting is the very foundation, it’s one of the most important things we can do as citizens and so I didn’t want to take that away from the people in my ward or anywhere in the city,” Romero said Monday.

Multiple residents of Ward 1 voiced their appreciation for ward-only voting as they left the polling place at Henderson City Hall on Monday morning.

Ned and Celine Dodds, who have been Ward 1 residents since 2016, called ward-only voting “much better” than the previous system. Resident Katie Brennan said she has close connections to two of the candidates: Seebock is a friend of her neighbor’s and her daughter attends the same school as Nilson’s daughter.

“Since these people are literally in your community, it’s your neighbors, it’s your co-workers, so having that close connection brings the election that much closer to home,” Brennan said after casting her vote.

Going smoothly

Both voters and poll workers commended the city for making the process of casting a ballot Monday morning painless.

“It’s just been very smooth. It was a very condensed time frame, and Clark County’s been amazing in helping us out,” Election monitor Amy Johnson said while welcoming voters into the city’s polling place.

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar praised the city for how it carried out the special election and credited its success to Valdez.

“They’ve done a phenomenal job. Louie has been super aggressive about making sure this election runs smoothly, keeping constant dialogue with our office, but also asking the question of ‘What can we do to make this better and stronger?’ ” Aguilar said.

Valdez attributed credit for the smooth election to his staff, joking that he “hasn’t had a good idea in 30 years.”

Contact Mark Credico at mcredico@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCredicoII.