Henderson Municipal Court Judge Department 1 election set for June 4

Henderson election season continues as incumbent Mark Stevens and Sandra Allred DiGiacomo battle for the Municipal Court Judge Department 1 seat.

The election is set for June 4.

Both candidates are encouraging people to vote one more time.

“We are the only ones left on the ballot,” DiGiacomo said. “People don’t realize every vote can make a difference.”

However, candidates have come across voters who are unaware about the election.

“I’m getting a lot of confusion from people,” Stevens said. “People think the election was over.”

Both candidates advanced from the April 2 primary.

Stevens, 50, received 41.88 percent of the votes, and attorney DiGiacomo, 44, received 40.75 percent of the votes.

The election had a low voter turnout with 17,638 people, or about 12 percent of registered voters, who cast ballots out of 142,813 registered voters in Henderson.

Rebecca Gill, an assistant professor in the political science department for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said she knows why people aren’t voting, in particular when it comes to judges.

“People don’t know who they are voting for,” she said.

Unless a candidate has done something controversial or spent money on advertising, people go into voting booths generally unaware of most of the candidates for court judges, Gill said.

“When people think of the court system, they think of the Supreme Court,” she said. “But the one they will probably have the most interaction with is the local court.”

Municipal Court processes traffic violations and misdemeanor crimes such as driving under the influence and domestic violence cases.

Kathy Blaha, a spokeswoman with the city of Henderson, said judges might also oversee Henderson municipal code-related cases that make it to court.

“We don’t have many that do,” she said.

Blaha said the court handles about 100,000 cases each year.

“They try to divide them equally between the (three) judges),” she said. “Each judge handles about 33,000 a year.”

There is no easy solution to get people to vote for municipal court elections, she added.

In the Henderson election, the race for judges is nonpartisan.

Even if voters wanted to fall back on voting according to political affiliation — and Gill said that isn’t necessarily a good indicator of how a person would be as a judge — she said residents are unable to do so.

Gill encourages people not to be intimidated by not knowing who the candidates are.

She added there are ways to find out information about candidates such as looking at local surveys about the judges, finding out if they have written any legal opinions on decisions or researching through news articles to see what has been written about them.

“People should be aware,” she said.

Ultimately, the voters who turn out June 4 will more likely be the ones doing the research beforehand, Gill said.

Early voting is scheduled through May 31.

Residents can vote from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday at the City Clerk’s office at the city of Henderson, 240 S. Water St., or from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Galleria at Sunset mall, 1300 W. Sunset Road.

The city has also set up voting centers open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at:

-- May 22 at Vons, 2667 Windmill Parkway

-- May 23 at Albertsons, 575 College Drive

-- May 24 at the Solera Anthem Community Center, 2401 Somersworth Drive

-- May 25 at Albertsons, 2650 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway

-- May 26 at Vons, 45 E. Horizon Ridge Parkway

-- May 28 at Albertsons, 201 S. Stephanie St.

-- May 29 at the Anthem Center, 2450 Hampton Road

-- May 30 at the Desert Willow Community Center, 2020 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway

-- May 31 at the Heritage Park Senior Facility, 300 Racetrack Road

The polls on election day are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For more information, visit votehenderson.com.