Clark County voting delays recall 1996 election uproar

Long lines at polling places Tuesday were reminiscent of those 30 years ago, when a Las Vegas mayor cut the line and a city councilman used coarse language to call for the firing of the county’s registrar of voters.

Then-Las Vegas City Councilman Matthew Callister blamed then-Clark County Registrar of Voters Kathryn Ferguson for waits of two hours at his and other polling places across the county.

“That broad ought to be shit-canned,” Callister said to a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter the evening of the 1996 general election. “I spent most of my night explaining that I was not in charge of this debacle.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Jan Jones moved to the front of the line at her polling place that morning, saying her schedule was too full to wait.

“You can’t elect me to be mayor and then say our work at City Hall isn’t a priority,” she said at the time.

The next day, irate county commissioners, as well as members of the public, lambasted the pair. Callister’s cousin, County Commissioner Paul Christensen, encouraged residents to file ethics complaints against the city councilman, saying he had committed “a serious breach of ethics.”

Callister made a public apology for his choice of words but not for their sentiment.

“This isn’t a Third World country here in Las Vegas,” said the attorney and former state legislator. “Nobody should have to stand for two hours waiting to vote.”

Commissioner Myrna Williams took Jones to task, saying that everybody, and “not just the mayor,” had appointments and responsibilities.

Jones, who was the city’s first female mayor, also apologized. But she said the real question was why people had to wait two hours to vote in the first place.

The long lines were blamed in part on too few electronic voting machines. It was the first time the machines had been used in a general election.

Contact investigative reporter Mary Hynes at [email protected] or at 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on X.