Las Vegas, North Las Vegas voting centers add convenience to casting a ballot

Voters in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas will not have to travel more than 3½ miles to cast ballots in city elections Tuesday.

The two cities are debuting voting centers for Tuesday’s primary elections aimed at augmenting accessibility for voters.

“If you work downtown but you live at the top of Ward 6, people were challenged to get up to that location after work,” said Las Vegas City Clerk Luann Holmes.

North Las Vegas voting centers are 3 miles or less from all residents of that city, spokeswoman Delen Goldberg said.

Before both city councils opted for voting centers, voters had to vote at an assigned precinct polling place. There were more than 20 polling places in North Las Vegas and 75 in Las Vegas.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday in Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, and voters can cast their ballot at any location in the city in which they live.

Voters in Henderson and North Las Vegas will choose mayors to lead their cities for the next four years. In North Las Vegas, they will weigh in on two city council races, while one Henderson council seat is up. Las Vegas voters will decide three city council contests and two municipal court judge races.

Henderson moved from 45 polling sites to 15 vote centers a decade ago and saved nearly $60,000 the first year, City Clerk Sabrina Mercadante said.

Any candidate who receives more than 50 percent of the vote will attain victory Tuesday night. If no candidate in a given race reaches that threshold, the top two-vote getters advance to the June 13 general election.

Thousands of voters in the three cities cast ballots during a two-week early voting period from March 18 through Friday.

Henderson had the largest turnout in early voting, with 11,147 casting ballots. In Las Vegas, 10,840 people voted early, while 4,736 people in North Las Vegas have voted.

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @JamieMunksRJ on Twitter. Staff writers Art Marroquin and Sandy Lopez contributed to this report.