Las Vegas Now | Voting Registration Deadline Looms

Voting Registration Deadline Looms

Time is running out for voters to participate in next month's election. If you are not registered to vote by Tuesday evening, you will lose your chance to cast a ballot in the presidential election.

Election officials say they have seen a lot of interest in this upcoming election. Some of that interested could be caused by the poor economic situation that may cause prospective voters to get more politically involved.  

Also, this week, the I-Team broke a story about Nevada's voter fraud task force raiding the offices of ACORN for illegally registering voters. To add to that, a New York Times investigation revealed that 700,000 Nevada votes may have been purged. Voters are being encouraged to check and make sure they are actually registered.

The election department is offering weekend and extended hours to get as many people registered as possible by their deadline of October 14, Tuesday at 9 p.m. Registration is taking place at two locations: The Clark County Government Center, 500 S. Grand Central Pkwy, Las Vegas and the Clark County Election Center, 965 Trade Dr., North Las Vegas.

About 10,000 registration forms a day are being processed by the election department. 

Voter Information Lookup - registration and polling place

Secretary of State's Vote Registration Lookup

Hours and Locations of Extended Registration Hours

Early Voting Starts Oct. 18

NevadaVote2008.com

"I'm nearly 40," said Tom Gallagher, who until now, has never registered to vote. This year he wants his voice heard. "I did not want it to come down to one vote." It took about five minutes to get Gallagher registered and he had plenty of company at the election office.

"We do talk about it at home. That's why we are here. We carpooled down here and obviously took time out of our day to do it. We feel it's the right thing to do," said Marvin Reeder who, along with his wife Elizabeth, is registering to vote for the first time.

Reeder is 38 years old and his wife is 41 years old. "In recent years, I was not really into it because I was not exactly excited about what people were saying. This year everything changed," She said.

"I am recently unemployed due to no fault of my own. I have worked construction here for 10 years. It's been great. I want to see things happen," Marvin Reeder said. When his job opportunities dried up because of the economy his interest in the election increased.

The registration process has not been without problems. Carrie Midby signed up two weeks ago on the UNLV campus. She has her stub, but her name never made it into the system. She thinks maybe because she registered Republican. If she had not made this trip to the election office, she would not have been able to vote.

"I don't know if it got slipped in the garbage along the way," said Carrie Midby, registering to vote.

Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax  recommends that all voters make sure they are in the system to avoid problems on election day.