Latino rights group alleges voter intimidation in Nevada

It's not a widespread problem, but a few instances of voter intimidation have been reported in Nevada, enough to cause a California-based Latino rights group to ask Secretary of State Ross Miller to investigate.

Chief among the incidents, Presente.org officials said Friday, was a female recruiter who said a man pulled an imaginary gun on her at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Reno a few weeks ago.

A few isolated cases also were reported in the Las Vegas Valley, where voting recruiters with Mi Familia Vota have been called derogatory names outside the DMV offices and supermarkets where they set up stands, according to the online watchdog organization.

"In Reno, the man spit on the voter registration sign, which was in Spanish," said Ana Perez, a spokeswoman for the group in Berkeley, Calif. "Then he went into the DMV. And when he came out, he created this imaginary gun, pointed it at her and pulled the trigger."

The organization, formed three years ago, documents race-based hate crimes and harassment. Perez said the claims have centered on voter intimidation as the election nears. "But for every case we document and videotape, there's bound to be a few that go undocumented. So we can never be sure what's going on in the field unless somebody calls us to report it."

Nearly 15 percent of voters in Clark County are Latino, and nearly 30 percent of the state's population is Hispanic. Nevada is a battleground for the swing vote, which has kept the organization busy.

Last week, Perez flew to Las Vegas to hold a news conference about some of the intimidation tactics reported.

Whether the secretary of state investigates Presente.org's petition, filed last week, was not immediately known, said a spokeswoman for Nevada's secretary of state's office.

Leo Murrieta, the state director of Mi Familia Vota, confirmed there have been a few cases in which volunteers have been called names, but the incidents were isolated and occurred mostly over the summer .

"We've been all coming together, actually," he said. "We're one big family that's working together to get the vote out, regardless of party affiliation."

Clark County residents have until Oct. 16 to register in person at the Election Department's two locations: the Clark County Government Center, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, or at the Clark County Election Center, 965 Trade Drive, Suite A, North Las Vegas. Early voting starts Oct. 20 and concludes Nov. 2.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said he knows of only one case in which a registered voter apparently had her registration form torn up and discarded minutes after she filled it out. He said tearing up such registration forms is a felony .

These days, Lomax said, he is mostly up to his elbows in getting everybody registered and sending 800,000-plus sample ballots.

Contact reporter Tom Ragan at tragan@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.