Numbers don’t lie: 320,655 people just can’t be wrong

Now that the primary election is over and we won't have to go through this sort of thing again until November, let's take a moment to pause in remembrance of all the good times we've had these past few months.

Cursing at those candidate signs crowding our neighborhoods.

Muting the TV because of the negative ads that took over the airwaves.

Chuckling at the chicken suit photos in the newspaper.

We'll always remember the chicken suits, won't we? Sometimes it seems as if elections are held just so we can have something strange to shake our heads at.

In that spirit, let's pore over the election results looking for some strange.

In three of the rural counties (Eureka, Mineral and Storey), more people voted for "none of these candidates" than for the winner in the Republican primary race for state controller.

Yes, we said the winner.

You want more "none," the only-in-Nevada option?

"None" shellacked a guy named Conquest. Frederick L. Conquest was Rory Reid's only opponent in the Democratic primary for governor. Mr. Conquest came in third, 685 votes behind "None."

If Rory and his dad, Harry, had been running in the same race, Harry might have come out on top. Harry got 7,210 more votes than Rory did.

The 12 candidates in Clark County who sported a nickname in quotes (except for two who ran unopposed) averaged 25.5 percent in their races. Not a winning strategy, it seems.

Looking at statewide and Clark County races, the closest race, percentage wise, was for the state Board of Regents in District 7. Nineteen-hundredths of a percent separated the top two candidates, a dentist and an eye doctor.

The closest race in terms of votes in Clark County was for justice of the peace in Searchlight. The top two vote-getters were separated by three votes. There was that tie in Nye County, of course, and a two-vote win in Humboldt County, which is closer to Walla Walla, Wash., than it is to Las Vegas, so let's just ignore it.

Voter turnout was supposedly pretty good for a primary at 26 percent in Clark County and 30 percent statewide; 320,655 people cast ballots.

But that's not really true. Those numbers are figured by dividing the number who voted by the number who are registered.

To get a more realistic number, divide the number who voted by the over 18 population, which would include folks who don't even bother to register to vote. There, you get 12.9 percent in Clark County and 16 percent statewide.

That means roughly one in every seven or so adults decided this whole thing for everybody else.

Here's a number: 47,616. That's the total number of votes incumbent Gov. Jim Gibbons got in his Republican primary, about 27 percent. That's somewhere around $3.86 per vote, according to the latest expense report his campaign filed.

The winner in that primary, Brian Sandoval, got about twice as many votes as Gibbons. But it cost him more than five times as much cash. Which means Sandoval paid about $11.12 per vote.

Ouch.

Maybe he should have saved a few bucks for the general election.

Speaking of getting trounced, the phrase "I think I'm gonna puke" was uttered by a Sue Lowden supporter seconds before the GOP U.S. Senate candidate, who was supposed to be the Anointed One but got walloped by Sharron Angle, gave her concession speech Tuesday night.

Lowden's election party/pukefest, by the way, was at the swanky View 215 events center, which sits where Russell Road, Interstate 215 and Jerry Tarkanian Street meet at an Angle, if you will.

If you combine the votes Lowden and Gibbons got in their respective races -- 93,487 -- you'd still be nowhere near the top vote-getter in any race.

That candidate got 126,123 votes, the most of anyone anywhere in Nevada.

Who was it?

Why, Bill Voy, of course.

Who is Bill Voy?

Voy is a Family Court judge in Clark County. He chuckled about his victory. He said his dad had a theory about the big win: "I ran such a great campaign."

More likely, the judge said, it was because his is a countywide seat in the state's most populous county. He also noted that he ran unopposed.

Turns out, he's right: The top four vote-getters in the state were all Family Court judges in Clark County who ran unopposed. They're nonpartisan races, meaning any voter can vote in them.

And Voy runs Department A, which meant he was listed first among the Family Court judges. Department B's judge finished with slightly fewer votes, and on down the line it went. More people voted for the guy at the top of the page than the guy at the bottom of the page.

So Voy, who has had the seat since 1998, walked away with a sweet deal. According to his latest campaign expense report, he spent not a single dime on his campaign in 2009 or 2010.

"I didn't have to campaign a lick," he said.

So if Voy had the most votes, who had the least?

That would be Richard "Rick" Faber, who ran for that previously mentioned justice of the peace slot in Searchlight. He got the fewest votes of anyone running for anything statewide or in Clark County.

Faber, who didn't call back, got a grand total of three votes -- him and his two best friends, perhaps?

But at least his votes were free. Just like Voy, this bottom dweller didn't spent a dime on his campaign.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.