GOP mounts voter registration drive in CD3

HENDERSON-With palm pilots freshly delivered from the Republican National Committee, approximately seventy-five Clark County Republicans launched their first voter registration drive of 2008 in Henderson today, knocking on doors inside Congressman Jon Porter's 3rd Congressional District.

Nevada Republicans, particularly in Clark County, have lagged behind Democrats in voter registration for months and have seen an advantage of nearly 8,000 votes two years ago now turn into a deficit of over 40,000, according to the secretary of state's most recent numbers.  In the 3rd Congressional District, Democrats now outnumber Republicans by over 20,000 voters, a troubling sign for Porter and a call for immediate action to Republican parties at the county, state and national levels.

Giving weight to the disturbing numbers, Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan was on hand this morning to kick off the registration drive and Porter himself spoke to the volunteers when they broke for lunch.

"This is a great example of the county and the state and the RNC working together, all on the same page," said Zac Moyle, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party. 

Moyle described funding for the new technology as a good example of "collaboration" between the state, county and national parties and brushed aside concerns about Nevada Republican's current registration gap.

"Every year after the election the Democrats make gains, then we come back in, get our programs on the ground, and have been able to close those," said Moyle.  "We're very confident that, as far as where voter registration stands today, that's not going to be where it stands on Election Day."

Dave McGowan, political director of the Clark County GOP described the first-time use of palm pilots for voter registration as a "shakedown effort."

"We're going to move away from the old paper sheets where you had the volunteer write down the information, then someone data-entered it," said McGowan.  "It's all wirelessly now.  So, you know back at the office that the person is identified as a voter, before they've gone to the next house.  It's really a step forward."

Due to the new technology, some volunteer teams were slow to get started in the morning, but McGowan foresees a much easier time with follow-up drives.

"With this process, there's a login, creating a username, assigning it to them, training them on it, but that's all been eliminated now, so the next time we do this I can just pass them out," said McGowan.

Check back to PolitickerNV.com to watch Congressman Porter speak to the volunteer canvassers.