Democrats expand registered voter lead in state

Nevada Democrats now have a voter registration advantage of more than 80,000 over Republicans among active voters.

When inactive voters " generally those who didn't respond to a residency confirmation of their address " are added in, the Democratic lead expands to about 94,000. Inactives can vote Nov. 4 if they meet all legal requirements.

Secretary of State Ross Miller said the total number of registered voters as of Sept. 30 is 1,395,484.

He said people who want to register by mail must postmark their registration letter by this coming Saturday. But the deadline is Oct. 14 for people registering in person.

"We've had record registration, but I know there are still a lot of eligible Nevadans who can register and participate," he said.

The vast majority of the Democratic lead is in Clark County, which lists 361,522 Democrats " some 108,000 more than Republican totals in that county.

But Democrats have also pulled within 2,000 of the Republicans in Washoe County.

After the two major parties, the next largest block of voters are the 168,606 independents registered as non-partisan, a group which has traditionally been regarded as decisive in any state election.

After that, the registration numbers of the minor parties fall off dramatically. Next largest is the Independent American Party with 44,481 registered voters. The Green, Libertarian and Natural Law parties each have fewer than 10,000 with Natural Law reporting only 200 voters.

In Carson City, Democrats trail Republicans by about 2,000 with 8,819 registered. In Douglas, the margin is less than 2:1 GOP for the first time in several decades, with 7,765 Democrats to 14,051 Republicans.

Lyon County is also solidly in the GOP camp with 12,180 Republicans to 7,999 Democrats. In Churchill, the GOP still has more than double the Democratic registration: 6,615 to 3,201.

Miller said some voters have expressed concern as the election approaches that those who have lost their homes to foreclosure and haven't changed their registration address will be barred from the polls.

"Nevada's laws on this are clear and I can say with confidence that registered voters who find themselves in that situation retain their right to vote as a registered voter," Miller said in a prepared statement.

He said, however, they should check their registration status and keep the registration deadlines in mind.

He said some partisan groups around the country have discussed challenging voters who changed their address because of foreclosure. With the nation's highest foreclosure rate, Miller said Nevada is a likely target for that kind of activity, which is one reason he established a multi-jurisdictional voter fraud task force to deal with election-day complaints.

"Our commitment is to an election that is open to every eligible registered voter and an election that is run with complete integrity."

- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.