Huge election bash planned

No one knows how the election this November will turn out. But one thing is pretty certain:

A lot of people will vote.

Already, Nevada election officials are preparing for what's bound to be a record turnout.

That means new voting machines, more places to vote and a lot of money spent to make sure all eligible Nevadans can make their voices heard.

"We're expecting the biggest turnout in the history of the state of Nevada. I don't think there can be any question about that," Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said.

Clark County's turnout sets a record in every presidential election year because of growth. But officials across the country are expecting this year to be especially intense because of the historic nature of the election.

It's the first presidential election in several decades in which neither party has an incumbent president or vice president in the race. It comes at a time when dissatisfaction with President Bush is high and many members of both parties are eager to see him replaced. Democrats especially, having taken over both houses of Congress two years ago, are hoping for another wave in their favor.

A PRIMARY LIKE NO OTHER

Primaries and caucuses everywhere, including Nevada, have brought unprecedented numbers of voters to contests that traditionally don't draw a large turnout.

"Given the registration totals we're seeing coming in and the fact that the presidential race is pretty wide open, I think we can anticipate a lot of interest," Secretary of State Ross Miller said.

The Democratic caucuses on Jan. 19 were the third contest in a fiercely contested race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. About 117,000 Nevadans participated, thousands of them registering to vote for the first time to do so.

The caucuses were put on and paid for by the political parties, not the state.

Ironically, Nevada Democrats thought they would have a major effect on the nomination by having such an early contest. But with the nomination still undecided two months later, states that didn't seek the early limelight are getting just as much attention. The two remaining candidates probably will spend as much time in Pennsylvania, which votes April 22, as they did in Iowa in the runup to that state's Jan. 3 kickoff caucus.

Nevada Republicans put on a smaller-scale effort, attracting 44,000 participants.

The Republican candidates didn't pay as much attention to Nevada as to some other states, with only Mitt Romney mounting a major campaign.

Both parties were overwhelmed by the turnout. Caucus locations were thronged; many ran out of ballots and other paperwork.

The caucuses give an inkling both of the level of enthusiasm this election brings and of the problems that can result.

Dan Seligson, editor of electionline.org, said all the states are taking note of unprecedented primary participation as they prepare for the general election.

"The primary probably gave election officials around the country a decent preview of what to look for in November: historic turnout; stresses on registration, check-in and voting machines; and the likelihood of a long night," he said.

In addition to watching primaries around the nation for the nonprofit, a nonpartisan election-reform project of the Pew Center on the States, Seligson worked the polls at last month's Washington, D.C., primary. His location ran out of paper ballots at 11:30 a.m. A long line then formed for the one electronic voting machine that was available there, which many didn't want to use out of distrust of the technology.

early voting could help

Nevada, however, has some things going for it that could alleviate stress at the polls.

First, the state, particularly Clark County, has the nation's most aggressive and effective early voting program, meaning fewer of those who want to vote will be standing in line at 7 a.m. on Nov. 4.

In 2004, just 41 percent of those who voted in the general election in Clark County voted on Election Day. The rest voted early (50 percent) or absentee (10 percent). Statewide, 48 percent of Nevadans who voted did so on Election Day.

Second, Nevada hasn't generally experienced controversy over voting systems.

Nevada uses electronic voting machines, but was the first state to put in place machines with a "voter verified paper audit trail," a receipt printed after the electronic vote is cast, creating a paper record that can be reviewed.

"I have confidence that with the electronic voting machines we have, the votes will be counted fairly and accurately," Secretary of State Miller said. Nevada, he noted, is the only state where every county uses identical machines and all of them have the paper trail capacity.

In addition, he said, "We're the only state that does a post-election audit to compare the paper count to the electronic tally. We've been doing that since 2004 and there's never been a discrepancy between the electronic tally and the paper tally."

Miller said the increased capacity for this election includes about $2 million worth of new equipment, paid for from a 2002 federal grant to help states upgrade voting systems in the wake of the 2000 debacle.

The new equipment includes 200 new voting machines and three more mobile voting centers for Clark County, which previously had one such trailer.

The mobile center is moved to different locations during early voting to make it accessible to more people.

Miller also is putting together an election night "command center" with law enforcement and information technology personnel to address any difficulties during voting or tabulating, and he is overhauling the elections Web site, SilverState08.com, to include candidate profiles.

COUNTY MAY SEE 700,000 VOTERS

The cost of putting on elections is mostly borne by the counties. Clark County Registrar Lomax has a fiscal-year budget of about $12 million in Clark County funds to pay for the 2008 primary and general elections and the municipal primary and general in spring 2009. The bulk of that money will go toward the November general election.

It probably will cost more than $2 million just to mail absentee ballots, which must be sent first class, Lomax said. Millions more will go to printing mail ballots and sample ballots, which may run more than 100 pages if there are multiple initiatives on the ballot.

On Election Day, the number of polling places in the county will expand from 320 in 2006 to 342. To staff the polls, 3,400 to 4,000 workers get paid $120 for the day, a cost of nearly half a million dollars.

Nearly 550,000 people voted in Clark County in 2004, a turnout of 80 percent. Turnout in successive presidential elections since 1996 has increased by 120,000 to 140,000, so it's a safe bet that nearly 700,000 Clark County residents will go to the polls this year.

Statewide, there were more than 830,000 voters in 2004, a turnout of 77 percent. President Bush carried the state by a little more than 20,000 votes.

NEVADA TO GET MORE ATTENTION

With Nevada classed as a swing state, both parties will be pouring money and staff into the state for the presidential election. The race for the state's 3rd Congressional District, represented by Republican Jon Porter, will be one of the most competitive in the country and attract millions of dollars in outside spending.

On top of all that, numerous initiative petitions with moneyed backers are trying to make it on the ballot. All that means voters are likely to be blitzed with phone calls, mail and knocks on the door this fall.

Already this year, in just two months, the county has received more than 60,000 new voter registrations, more applications than it received the entire year in 2005. More than a dozen voter registration groups have come to Lomax's office to pick up forms; the Election Department keeps 500,000 in stock to distribute.

Though he is bracing himself for the biggest election ever, Lomax doesn't think it can get any crazier than 2004, when multiple petitions ended up in court and the county had to check signatures right when the primary was being put on.

Then, "since we were a swing state, we had half of California bused in here as poll watchers" and campaign organizers, Lomax said, plus hordes of media and partisan lawyers unfamiliar with Nevada law but working from the assumption that Las Vegas elections must be corrupt.

To prepare for this election, "We think a lot about it and try to make sure that we're not going to be overwhelmed," Lomax said. "After 2004, I don't think there's any more they could throw at us."

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2919.