Republicans Looking for People Willing To Sue in Nevada As Democratic Voters Surge

The Washington Independent reports that Republicans are looking for people willing to sue in Nevada over surge in Democratic voter registration.

In Washoe County [ed. note: including Reno; Washoe County highlighted in red on accompanying map], 68,250 early ballots cast have been cast through through Tuesday, and Democrats have widened their lead to 7,300 voters. Democrats cast 31,900 votes, while Republicans cast 24,560.

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The strong Democratic turnout has Republicans mulling possible legal challenges. “We question whether these are valid registrations,” said Smith, the Washoe County GOP chairwoman.

While talking to Smith, she was interrupted by a cell phone call, which she inadvertently put on the speakerphone. It was the state GOP executive director Zachery Moyle, and the two discussed what could be done about the tsunami of Democratic Party registrations.

“I’m looking for people to sign on to a lawsuit,” Moyle said to Smith, who fumbled with the phone while turning off the speaker. “You didn’t hear that,” she said glancing in my direction.

(Emphasis added.)

53% of the 241,861 early votes cast in Clark County (including Las Vegas) through Tuesday have been by Democrats, while only 30.1% of those early voters were Republicans (with the balance being independent or others.)

Democratic turnout for early voting in Clark County in the 2004 general election was 46% of early voters; the 7% increase in turnout percentage of Democrats over 2004 figures suggests that the 2004 Republican victory in Nevada, by 20,000 votes, will not easily be repeated.

Yet, The Washington Independent reports, there are ongoing efforts to decrease the Democratic vote in the state:

Democratic Party leaders said the only evidence of voter fraud so far in Nevada was a series of phone calls made to Democratic Latino voters telling them they could vote by phone and didn’t have to go to the polls. “The Republicans who are complaining about voter fraud are doing it simply to scare people,” contended Kincaid, the Democratic Party spokesman.

The earliest election returns from Nevada next Tuesday evening should primarily consist of the votes of these early voters; those first vote totals should lean Democratic significantly. How steeply, if at all the vote totals move toward the Republican ticket as later returns come in will indicate how late a night those following the Nevada race will have to "look forward to."

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Related posts:

Huge African American Turnout in Georgia - Might An Upset Be In the Cards?;

North Carolina Early Voting Appears to Favor Democrats;

Stevens Falls Behind in Alaska Senate Race - Rassmussen Poll - October 29, 2008

(Interactive map of Nevada available here, from the Keck Library at University of Nevada, Reno.)

(Map illustration, above, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.)