Henderson municipal judge retains seat in low-turnout election

Incumbent Judge Mark Stevens sighed in relief as the vote count swung in his favor.

“I was worried up until five minutes ago,” he said.

Stevens, 50, retained his seat in Tuesday’s election for Henderson Municipal Court Department 1 with more than 60 percent of the vote.

“People asked me what I would have done (if not re-elected),” Stevens said. “I didn’t want to waste any energy thinking about that. I would have figured it out if it happened.”

Stevens — formerly an attorney with the Marine Corps, a private attorney, a police officer and an attorney at the city attorney’s office — ran unopposed in 2007.

This time, he was challenged by 44-year-old Sandy Allred DiGiacomo, chief deputy district attorney for Clark County.

“This campaign was a lot different,” he said. “I don’t think I could have done it with the support I had.”

He said his campaign spent hours knocking on doors.

“I’m not in the media a lot because I don’t have any high-profile cases,” he said. “It’s more a matter of getting face time.”

Stevens and DiGiacomo emerged as the top candidates in the April primary and were only 189 votes apart. Henderson City Councilman John Marz and Mayor Andy Hafen retained their seats in the primary elections.

A total of 17,638 people, or 12.35 percent people registered in Henderson, cast ballots in the primary. That number was down 12.79 percent from 2009.

Henderson City Clerk Sabrina Mercadante said turnout was predictably low with just one race and many voters unaware an election was happening.

She said some people found out accidentally when they stumbled across a polling site on their way to somewhere else.

“They were just going to the library,” Mercadante said.

City officials did what they could to cut costs. Mercadante said Tuesday’s election may wind up costing the city between $100,000 and $140,000.

This citywide election isn’t the lowest turnout Henderson has had.

In the 2005 general election for Municipal Court Department 3, 8,210 people voted.

Municipal Court judges oversee traffic and misdemeanor cases in the city of Henderson about 100,000 each year.

The term is six years with an annual pay of $137,867.

The election results are scheduled to be read at the June 11 City Council meeting and Stevens will be sworn in June 18.

Review-Journal writer Henry Brean contributed to this report.

Contact Henderson/Anthem View reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@viewnews.com or 702-387-5201.