Expect costumes, long lines at early voting sites

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, Oct. 31, 2008 | 9:59 a.m.

Don't be surprised if you run into a couple of witches, maybe an Elvis or even a George Bush at a Clark County early voting site today.

"I think a lot of the workers put on Halloween costumes. But I don't know about the voters," said Larry Lomax, the county's regristrar of voters.

Lomax said voters shouldn't be scared off if they see long lines today, which is the final day of early voting before Tuesday's general election. He said he was at a polling place this morning where the line was about 75 voters deep. (See locations.)

"There are lines everywhere, but we move them along at a fast pace," he said. "Be patient. There's a lot of people who waited until the last day. It looks like it's going to be real busy."

On Thursday, about 38,000 people voted early, which makes him think that when the early voting polls close tonight, somewhere between 380,000 to 390,000 people will have cast their ballots early for the Nov. 4 general election.

He's expecting a total turnout, including the people who vote at their local polling place on Tuesday, to be at least 80 percent of the county's 815,077 registered voters.

"It's going to be record-setting turnout," he said. "We had an 80 percent turnout in 2004. I'm real confident we're going to beat that."

County registration figures show Democrats outnumber Republicans 396,910 (48.7 percent) to 261,662 (32.1 percent).

As of Thursday night, 388,208 people had voted at the early voting polls or by mail. Democrats hold the lead by some 78,000 in early voting and Republicans holding a 3,000 edge for those who voted by mail.

Of the 347,491 people who voted at the early voting polls, 182,313 were Democrats, or 45.9 percent of all registered Democrats, and 105,565 were Republicans, or 40.3 percent of registered GOP voters.

The total number of mailed-in absentee ballots for the county was 40,717 by Thursday night. Republicans had the edge with 19,139, (7.3 percent of registered Republicans) to the 16,284 Democrats (4.1 percent of the registered Democrats).

Here's a look at early voting trends in eight contested partisan races as of Thursday night:

• In the 3rd Congressional District, which features a tight contest between incumbent Republican Jon Porter and Democrat Dina Titus, 98,161 Democrats, 66,221 Republicans and 35,078 voters with no party have cast ballots. For the mail-in votes from that district, 11,741 were Republicans, 8,786 were Democrats and 3,068 were from non-affiliated voters.

• The 2nd Congressional District has a race between incumbent Republican Dean Heller and Democrat Jill Derby. So far, 6,940 Democrats, 4,721 Republican and 2,680 voters with no party have cast ballots. The mailed votes came from 1,297 Republicans, 703 Democrats and 402 non-affiliated voters.

• The County Commission District District A race has a heated race between Republican Brian Scroggins and Democrat Steve Sisolak to take over the seat being vacated by Bruce Woodbury. Independent candidate Scott David Narter is also running. In that district, 36,783 Democrats, 30,071 Republicans and 14,606 voters with no party have cast ballots. The mailed votes came from 5,065 Republicans, 3,016 Democrats and 1,219 voters declaring no party.

• In the state Senate 6th District race, which features a battle between incumbent Republican Bob Beers and Democrat Allison Copening, 12,717 Democrats, 9,754 Republicans and 4,224 voters with no party affiliation have voted so far. The mailed votes in that district came from 2,013 Republicans, 1,558 Democrats and 446 non-affiliated voters.

• The state Senate 5th District race is between Democrat Shirley Breeden and incumbent Republican Joe Heck. In that district, 28,883 Democrats, 21,951 Republicans and 10,937 voters with no party affiliation have voted. Mailed vote: 2,929 Republicans, 2,109 Democrats and 755 non-affiliated.

• State Assembly District 21 features a contest between Republican Jon Ozark and Democrat Ellen Spiegel to represent the Green Valley area district. So far, the early voting turnout has been 6,108 Democrats, 4,909 Republicans and 2,470 voters with no party. Mailed vote: 747 Republicans, 539 Democrats and 168 voters declaring no party.

• The State Assembly District 23 contest is between Democrat Allison Herr and Republican Melissa Woodbury. Early voting shows there have been 4,956 Democrats, 3,240 Republicans and 1,715 voters with no party who have cast ballots. Mailed vote: 562 Democrats, 502 Republicans and 159 voters with no party affiliation.

• State Assembly District 29 features newcomers Sean Fellows, a Republican and Democrat April Mastroluca. As of Thursday, there were 6,650 Democrats, 4,560 Republicans and 2,558 voters with no party who have voted. Mailed vote: 559 Republicans, 428 Democrats and 165 voters declaring no party.