Provisional votes in Nevada state Senate races could change election outcomes

CARSON CITY - Speculation that provisional voting could have changed the outcome in two state Senate races has brought the issue of non-federal provisional voting to the forefront.

Republican Greg Brower defeated Democrat Sheila Leslie by 266 votes in the Senate District 15 race in Washoe County. In District 9, Democrat Justin Jones defeated Republican Mari St. Martin by 301 votes.

More than 8,329 voters on Nov. 6 were given provisional ballots after election workers could not find their names on registration lists. They had to swear they were registered before they were given the provisional ballots, which allowed them to vote only in federal races. In some cases, voters had to bring in identification before the end of the week.

After the election, workers in registrar's office investigated and found about 40 percent of those voters were registered. They then were counted in all federal races, but not local or state races.

As part of the federal Help America Vote Act, states were required in 2003 to pass provisional voting and other election laws. HAVA provided much of the funding for touch-screen voting machines. States, however, did not have to require provisional voting in non-federal races.

While Republican Dean Heller, serving at the time as secretary of state, wanted to allow provisional voters to cast ballots in all races, minutes of hearings show a Democratic-dominated Assembly committee in 2003 restricted provisional voting to federal races.

Minutes of the May 8, 2003, Assembly Elections and Procedures Committee show that then-Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, was the most outspoken legislator in his opposition of provisional votes in local and state races. No other legislators objected to his stance that provisional voting in local and state races might lead to "fraud."

"How are you going to verify that these ballots are good ballots?" Conklin asked.

The bill was amended to exclude non-federal provisional voting. Previously, the Republican-controlled state Senate had approved the bill in a 20-1 vote.

Justus Wendland, the HAVA administrator in the secretary of state's office, said Monday that many 2012 provisional ballots were cast by out-of-state residents just "passing through Nevada" who decided they had a constitutional right to vote, though they weren't registered in Nevada. Much of this voting occurred in rural Nevada, he added.

Some provisional voters even checked the nonresident box, he added. Because they weren't registered in Nevada, their votes were not counted.

Because only 3,629 provisional voters were counted statewide, it is doubtful enough would have been cast in two of the 21 Senate districts to affect the outcome of the races.

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.