Supervisors approve vote count

A canvass of Carson City's general election showed 19,569 votes were cast, Clerk/Recorder Alan Glover told the board of supervisors Wednesday.

Of that number, 10,771 participated in early voting, 7,186 turned out on Election Day, and 1,612 absentee ballots were cast including MOVE votes.

The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009. The overall purpose of the law is to help military serving overseas and citizens who live abroad be able to vote in U.S. elections.

"I was somewhat disappointed in the MOVE Act votes," Glover said. "We sent out only 50 ballots and 35 were returned."

The 79 percent voter turnout was 2 percent higher than the last non-presidential year, Glover said. During the last presidential election, the turnout was 92 percent.

"There are very definitely people who only vote during a presidential election and some who only vote for a president," he said.

The board of supervisors is required by law to approve the canvass of the vote for each election. They also adopted a resolution approving the 2010 school bond question.

The bond passed by 56 percent with 10,430 yes votes and 8,099 no votes.

Glover also addressed "fleeing voters," or those who sign the roster but fail to vote. There were five fleeing voters on Election Day and 11 during early voting.

An example, Glover explained, was during the primary when one woman signed in, took a phone call and had to leave to go back to her office. She came back later to cast her vote, but ballot activation cards only last about 10 minutes.

There also could have been a situation where a new voter or elderly person might have become confused by the process, been too embarrassed to ask for help and simply left.

"We shouldn't be having those (fleeing voters). That number is a little too high," he said.

Glover said training on the voting machines would be something his office could consider in the future, although he said first-time voters are pretty savvy when it comes to technology of any kind. And to help older voters, he said, "We tell them it's just like a player's card," and they catch on right away.