Nine days left to register to vote before election

By Natasha Shepherd

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 | 11:09 a.m.

With the 2008 general election right around the corner, potential voters are running out of time to register.

The last day to register to vote without having to appear in person at the Election Department Office is Saturday, Oct. 4. In addition to the Election Department Office, located at 965 Trade Drive, Suite A, people can register at any city clerk’s office, all Department of Motor Vehicles locations and any state welfare or WIC office.

Mail-in registration forms can be found at all U.S. Postal Service locations and libraries. Postage is pre-paid but all forms must be postmarked no later than the deadline.

Field registrars will be at all Las Vegas area shopping malls on Oct. 4 during regular mall hours to make registering easy. If that isn’t easy enough, people can go to the Clark County Election Department’s Web site to request an application sent to them by mail.

Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax also encourages people already registered to vote to go to the Web site to ensure that their registration was processed correctly.

“One of the biggest problems on election day is people aren’t actually registered,” Lomax said.

After entering your name and birth date on the county’s Web site, it will verify whether or not you are registered and provide information on your precinct and a map and directions to your polling location.

After the Oct. 4 deadline, people can still register to vote by going to the Election Department Office or the first floor of the Clark County Government Center, located at 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, until Tuesday, Oct. 14. These locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 5; 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct.6 through Oct. 9; and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Oct. 10 through Oct. 14.

There are 947,414 registered voters in Clark County as of Sept. 22, 2008, according to the election department’s Web site. That figure includes active and inactive registered voters.

The total for active registered voters is 754,323. That total breaks down into 353,481 voters registered as Democrats; 249,973 registered as Republicans; 113,579 registered with no party affiliation; 3,864 registered as Libertarians; 2,024 registered under the Green Party; 28,373 registered under the Independent American Party; and 3,029 registered under affiliations classified as “Other.”

More people in Clark County opt to take part in early voting rather than vote on Election Day. Early voting begins Saturday, Oct. 18 and continues through the Friday before the election. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.

For more information on early voting, and to find locations, click here.