Nevada panel endorses Friday presidential primary

CARSON CITY, Nev. - A Nevada panel has endorsed the idea of a presidential primary that could be held on a Friday in early March 2000 on the same day as primaries in several other Western states.

Members of Nevada's Rocky Mountain Presidential Primary Task Force approved the idea on Thursday after getting assurances that the day - March 10 in 2000 - wouldn't exclude any potential voters.

Secretary of State Dean Heller, chairman of the task force, had delayed an earlier recommendation because there was concern some Muslims might not participate in such a primary because Fridays are holy days for them.

But the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations and other Muslim groups said a Friday primary shouldn't be a conflict because Muslim religious observances on that day usually last only an hour or two.

Even if someone didn't want to go to a polling place on that day, the task force was told there's always the option of absentee voting.

A similar concern about possible conflicts for people of the Jewish faith or Seventh Day Adventists had prompted the eight Western states discussing a common primary to drop an earlier plan for a Saturday election.

Another sticking point for Saturdays was the potential for overtime costs, although task force members agreed that the expense would be more than offset by the political benefits.

The plan generally is to make the Rocky Mountain region a key stop for White House hopefuls. The Western state primaries would be held between coastal primaries in California and New York in early March and mid-March Super in the South during presidential election years.

Other Western states working on the project with Nevada include Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The strategy could focus attention on water, public land and other issues of importance to the West.

While the Nevada task force and similar entities in the other states are discussing the proposal, it would be up to individual state legislatures to actually approve the primary date.

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