Voter registration gap shrinks

The gap between Republicans and Democrats in statewide voter registration narrowed in the most recent report from the secretary of state's office, mostly because of a technicality.

Democrats say it shouldn't be seen as a sign their stupendous registration pace is slackening, but Republicans say it may be a sign they're starting to gain ground. Both parties say the next report will prove them right.

In the report posted last week of active registered voters as of the end of May, Democrats counted 437,543 voters, Republicans 387,523, for a difference of 50,200 more Democrats than Republicans.

That was down 753 from the end of April, when there were 449,002 registered Democrats and 398,229 registered Republicans, a gap of 50,773 more Democrats than Republicans.

But the May report reflected Clark County's biennial pre-election inactivation of voters, wherein those who don't reply to a change-of-address inquiry are moved to the inactive voter rolls. They can still vote on Election Day, but they're not included in the active voter tally that is considered a more up-to-date reflection of registration trends.

According to the Clark County Election Department, more than 50,000 voters were moved to inactive status about a month ago.

"Democrats have more registered voters in Clark County, so when the Clark County registrar conducted a purge, it affected more Democrats than Republicans," said Kirsten Searer, deputy executive director of the state Democratic Party. "We have had a net gain of voters every week this year except the week of the purge. I anticipate we will recover from that next week or the week after."

But Zac Moyle, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, said Republicans have boosted their registration effort and it is starting to show. He said the voter inactivation was certainly part of the reason for the GOP gaining ground, but, "If we weren't registering voters, the purge wouldn't have had the effect that it did."

Moyle said the Republican Party has recently opened offices in Elko, Douglas County and Carson City and now has two offices each in Washoe and Clark counties.

"I've always said that once we got people on the ground, those (voter registration) numbers would start to change," he said. "I'm confident that next month's numbers will show we're gaining ground."

WARD-ING OFF TROUBLE

Sen. John Ensign had to correct a campaign finance report after auditors turned up several lapses that are being blamed on Christopher Ward, his former treasurer who is at the center of a Republican embezzlement scandal.

Like a number of other Republicans, Ensign hurriedly commissioned an audit of his Battle Born Political Action Committee earlier this year when Ward emerged as a suspect in an accounting fraud involving the National Republican Congressional Committee, one of the party's chief fundraising arms.

Besides working for the committee, Ward also handled the books for Ensign's PAC and more than 80 GOP campaign organizations in recent years.

Ensign's PAC audit showed "no evidence of malfeasance" but "some sloppy accounting on Chris Ward's behalf," spokesman Tory Mazzola said.

According to a corrected report Ensign filed with the Federal Election Committee, two $5,000 contributions that he made to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last December were not properly reported. And a $306 check for payroll services was not reported.

Mazzola said the audit turned up no indication the money was hidden or diverted. It was on the books but just not reported as required, he said.

Ensign recently hired Lisa Lisker, a partner in the Virginia political accounting firm Huckaby Davis Lisker, to handle his PAC accounting.

Republicans are accusing Ward of embezzling more than $800,000 from fundraising committees, and spending some of it to renovate his home in Bethesda, Md. The FBI is continuing an investigation.

PAUL-ING OUT

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul officially ended his campaign last week, telling supporters in a message on his Web site he hoped they would continue the fight for his ideals.

Paul's supporters, whose ardor for their cause was blamed for helping derail the state Republican convention in April, are unfazed. Sparks dentist Wayne Terhune said he's going ahead with the plan to hold a rogue convention June 28, flouting the party's preferred convention date of July 26.

"It's a technicality," Terhune said of his man exiting. "That's not what this June 28 convention was about in the first place. It was about right vs. wrong, not McCain or Romney vs. Paul. It's about putting this convention back in the hands of the delegates and letting them elect who they want to send to Minneapolis."

Terhune and his allies believe that if they can get 600-plus state convention delegates to appear at the June 28 event at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, they will have a quorum under the rules and can elect delegates for the September Republican National Convention.

Activist Michael Weber, an Assembly candidate who supports John McCain and stepped in to champion the Paul supporters' cause at the April convention, supports the June 28 date.

But the party disagrees with that interpretation of the rules and has said it won't recognize any business conducted at the Paul supporters' convention attempt. Officials fear that the two dates will split the delegates, neither convention will achieve a quorum and, with just over a month before the national convention, the state will not have a delegation to send to the national convention.

Some Paul supporters fear that in that case, the state party could simply appoint delegates, which is what they were trying to avoid with the April 26 rules change.

Nevada Republican Party Executive Director Zac Moyle said the Paul supporters could best serve their own interests -- having their voice heard in the delegate selection process -- by coming to the officially sanctioned convention.

"The official Nevada Republican Party convention is on July 26," he said. "The people that have a problem with the date, as long as those people attend the July 26 convention there will be a quorum. If they choose not to attend, that's up to them, but we think it would be in their best interest and allow them to elect delegates."

Paul, for his part, has started an organization to promote his views and has not endorsed McCain. His statement quitting the race wasn't exactly friendly to his party and helped to feed suspicions the former Libertarian Party nominee is again striking out on his own.

"We don't have to live in the kind of America the two major parties have in store for us," he said.

Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report. Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.