Secretary of state pledges increased security at polls

Nevadans can expect increased security at the polls this year amid concerns about the integrity of the election process and expected record voter turnout for "the most anticipated election in Nevada history," Secretary of State Ross Miller said today.

Early voting begins today as officials continue their investigation into whether the community activist group ACORN helped foster voter registration fraud in Nevada and several other states.

Nevada poll workers will more closely scrutinize voter signatures, and a statewide election command center will quickly respond to any allegations of voting fraud on election night, Miller said during a morning news conference.

Miller and Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax both insisted that voters need not be concerned about the integrity of this year's election, despite the ACORN investigation.

"We in Clark County give you results that absolutely reflect the votes that were cast out there by the citizens," Lomax said during a later interview with the Review-Journal's editorial board. "As far as the integrity of the election, no one has anything, in my opinion, to doubt."

Miller's office also said that Nevada Democrats have increased their voter registration edge over Republicans to 111,559 -- far above the slight edge of about 4,100 voters only a year ago.

The total of all registered voters in Nevada stands at nearly 1.5 million, including 625,333 Democrats and 513,774 Republicans. For Democrats, that's 43 percent of the voters; and for Republicans it's about 36 percent. The rest of the registered voters are nonpartisan or members of various splinter parties.

The investigation of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, activities in Nevada is being handled by an election fraud task force made up of investigators from the secretary of state's office, the attorney general's office and the FBI. The probe centers on whether ACORN canvassers -- including prison inmates on work-release -- filled out voter registration forms with false or copied names.

ACORN claimed to have submitted about 90,000 voter registration forms, Lomax said. Of those submitted, about half were found to be duplicates "or garbage," he said.

Similar problems with ACORN's forms were found during the 2004 election, Lomax said.

ACORN said it was the victim of dishonest canvassers that it tried to have prosecuted to no avail. The organization said it fired canvassers found to be submitting fraudulent forms.

Most of ACORN's submitted forms were for Democrats, Lomax said. But authorities don't believe the Democratic advantage in voter registrations is linked to the ACORN allegations. Officials say few if any false registrations made it onto the voter rolls because of checks in the system. Phony addresses and duplicates never make it onto the rolls; registrations without valid driver's license or Social Security numbers require identification be shown at the polls.

Miller said that poll workers have been trained to more closely verify voter signatures in part because of the "number of concerns" his office has heard about the ACORN investigation. If a signature doesn't match, the voter will be asked to present an ID. First-time voters, as usual, also will be required to show an ID to vote.

The statewide election night command center to be operated from the secretary of state's office will include liaisons in each Nevada county, Miller said.

"I want to ensure the public that we absolutely have integrity in the votes that will be cast in the upcoming election," he said.

He estimated as many as 1 million Nevadans may cast votes in the election this year, about 85 percent of active voters in the state.

Nevada has more voting machines and more polling locations in place than ever before to accommodate voters, Miller said. He urged voters to take advantage of early voting to avoid anticipated long lines at the polls on election day, Nov. 4.

Nevada's Republican Party remained confident ,despite the newly released voter registration numbers that tilt toward Democrats.

"Our base will turn out as well as the Independents and the third parties, who know John McCain is the best candidate," Zac Moyle, executive director of the party, said. "As far as we're concerned, we're still planning to win this election."

Sam Lieberman, chairman of the state Democratic Party, could not be reached for comment.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.