Nevada's November election results now final, official

Nevada's Nov. 5 general election results, which produced a Republican sweep of statewide elective offices, were declared final and official Wednesday.

The official canvass of the election results was conducted by Secretary of State Dean Heller and four state Supreme Court justices, Bill Maupin, Deborah Agosti, Miriam Shearing and Myron Leavitt.

Heller described the hourlong canvass of the 512,433 votes cast as "one of the best days for the secretary of state" because it ends a long year of overseeing Nevada's elections.

But while the vote totals are final, one of the races won't be wrapped up until a challenge for a state Assembly seat is reviewed at the start of the 2003 Legislature.

Republican Francis Allen is contesting his 134-vote loss to Democrat Marcus Conklin in Las Vegas-based Assembly District 36. Allen has alleged voter fraud.

Assembly Democrats now hold a 23-19 edge over Republicans, down from 27-15 before the elections. In the state Senate, the elections left the GOP margin over Democrats unchanged at 12-9 -- but Sen. Ray Shaffer of North Las Vegas then switched parties and gave the Republicans a 13-8 advantage.

There were no surprises in Wednesday's vote canvass, which confirmed a statewide voter turnout of 59 percent. Storey County had the highest turnout, 82.1 percent, and Nye had the lowest, 56.3 percent.

Clark County, taking in Las Vegas, had a 57.3 percent turnout and Washoe County, encompassing Reno, had a 57.7 percent turnout.

Nevada's lowest statewide turnout was 49 percent in the 1998 elections. The highest was 85 percent, in the 1960 general election.

The turnout percentages are determined by comparing actual turnout to voter registration totals. But this year's registration total of just under 870,000 is only about half of the more than 1.6 million Nevadans who are 18 or older and eligible to register and vote.

The canvass also showed "None of these candidates," a Nevada-only option in statewide races, received its highest vote total in Justice-elect Mark Gibbons' unchallenged bid for state Supreme Court. "None" got 77,897 votes, or 18 percent, to Gibbons' 346,385 votes.

"None" also received about 16 percent, or 73,577, of the votes in Justice Maupin's re-election bid. Maupin was a 53-29 percent winner over challenger Don Chairez.

"None" had its slightest impact in the lieutenant governor's contest, won by incumbent Republican Lorraine Hunt. Hunt got 260,468 votes, or 51.7 percent, while "None" got 17,118 votes, or 3.4 percent.

Besides Hunt, other Republicans who retained or captured Nevada's six statewide offices included Gov. Kenny Guinn, Heller, state Treasurer Brian Krolicki, state Controller Kathy Augustine, Attorney General-elect Brian Sandoval.

ON THE WEB

http://sos.state.nv.us