Voting was heavy at the Nye County Courthouse in Pahrump Monday morning, as residents got in line after the start of early voting Saturday.

Nye County has 21,462 registered voters going into the Nov. 7 general election, the Nye County clerk's office reported, with Republicans holding an edge of over 1,500 registered voters over Democrats.

The registration period closed Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 9,420 to 7,912. However the wild card is the 2,976 registered non-partisan voters.

The 21,462 registered voters includes 761 considered inactive, who haven't updated their address, the Nye County clerk's office reported. The figure of active voters would be 20,701.

The county clerk's office reported 428 additional registered voters for the general election since the close of registration for the Aug. 15 primary.

The 21,462 voters represent an increase of 4,330 voters from June 2002, before the primary began four years ago, a 25 percent increase in the number of voters from when many of these same candidates ran for election the last time.

The remainder of the registered voters for this Nov. 7 election includes 913 Independent American Party members, 192 Libertarians, 20 members of the Green Party, 16 Natural Law party members, five Reform Party members and eight that listed their party affiliation as "other."

Early voting began Saturday at the Nye County clerk's offices in Pahrump and Tonopah. Early voting runs through next Wednesday, Nov. 1 in Pahrump and through Nov. 3 in Tonopah.

The clerk's office will be open for early voting from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days per week in Pahrump. The Tonopah clerk's office will be closed Sunday, but early voting will be held there from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.

The county clerk's office in both locations will be closed for Nevada Day, celebrated Oct. 27.

Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino, in explaining why Tonopah has two more days of early voting, said Pahrump has a much heavier turnout than Tonopah. The staff at the county clerk's office has to perform other duties besides helping with the election, she said.

Every person voting has to show identification with proof of residency, Merlino said. Someone who doesn't have a driver's license can show a utility bill.

Voter turnout was 38.39 percent in the Aug. 15 primary. There were 3,767 Republicans turning out to vote in that election, compared to 2,925 Democrats and 968 non-partisans. During the Aug. 15 primary 15.27 percent of the registered voters showed up for early voting, almost half the total turnout.

Voter turnout was a high 75.1 percent in the November 2004 general election in which President George W. Bush was re-elected. Turnout is expected to be high this November due to the county sheriff's race and the election of every statewide office.