Nevada volunteers came close

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — One of the big positives about the get-out-the-vote operation here was the number of volunteers. America Coming Together expected 300 people and 700 showed up before Nov. 2 and 1,400 on Election Day itself. Many were high school and college students or union members.

One volunteer, Valley High School junior Gerardo Perez, 16, said he was volunteering because “I don’t want to be drafted.” Despite the Bush administration’s denials, many fear with the war on terror another military draft is in the offing.

Nevada was the site of an FBI investigation on voter fraud. A Republican-leaning voter registration group called Voter Outreach America was accused of throwing away Democratic registration forms.

Bush narrowly won Nevada, a traditional “red” state, by 21,000 votes, although the Bush plan to bury nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain galvanized significant opposition.