Voter registration total drops sharply

Nevada's total number of registered voters dropped sharply in January as Clark County declared thousands of voters inactive.

Clark officials removed a total of 69,138 names from the list of active voters in the Las Vegas area, dropping the state back under the 900,000 mark in total number of active voters.

Secretary of State Dean Heller said Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax declared inactive all voters who changed their addresses but failed to notify his office.

But "That does not mean these voters cannot vote or that their registrations have been canceled," stressed Heller.

He said state law requires voters to notify election registrars whenever they change addresses. But the practical effect of putting them on the inactive list is that they won't receive election-related mail. The voter needs simply to update his or her address with the county registrar's office to be put back on the active list.

All Nevada counties periodically update their active and inactive voter rolls. Under state law, a voter's registration can't be canceled until after he or she fails to vote in two consecutive elections.

With the update of the Clark County list, Heller said the total number of active, registered voters in Nevada dropped from 912,346 to 846,487 as of Jan. 31. Of that total, there are 352,730 Republicans and 339,503 Democrats - a difference of 13,227.

The swing in any election is still held by nonpartisan voters, who number 128,039 statewide.

The next-largest party registration is the Independent American Party with 16,270. None of the other parties listed by the state have more than 5,000 voters registered.

Republicans hold a registration advantage over the Democrats in 14 of Nevada's 17 counties - exceptions are Clark, Mineral and White Pine. That margin is largest in Douglas and Churchill, where there are more than twice as many Republicans as Democrats - 11,500 to 5,021 in Douglas and 6,579 to 3,099 in Churchill.

The margin in Carson City is 10,811 Republicans to 7,099 Democrats.