Vote canvass set for Nov. 22

The results of Nevada's 2000 general elections are now official and final.

The election was canvassed Tuesday, presented by Secretary of State Dean Heller before the Nevada Supreme Court, which certified the results of the Presidential, Senate and congressional elections as well as all state offices and ballot questions.

Unlike Florida, it went off on schedule, quietly and without dispute over any of the 78 races for office and three ballot questions.

Included in the results were the re-elections of two members of the court - Chief Justice Bob Rose and Justice Myron Leavitt - who traded a "high five" afterward.

The third justice to win re-election, Nancy Becker, could not be present for the canvass.

Since Rose and Leavitt were unopposed, it's no surprise that they also received the highest total number of votes cast for any candidates in the 2000 Nevada general elections - 387,935 for Leavitt and 380,031 for Rose.

Heller told the justices a record 613,360 Nevada voters cast ballots - a 70 percent turnout. The contest which drew the most voters altogether was the presidential race in which 609,426 Nevadans cast ballots.

The result, while close, wasn't as close as many other states with George W. Bush collecting 301,575 - 21,597 more than Al Gore.

In addition to the federal offices, 52 legislative races, three Supreme Court races and a number of district and family court judicial races, the state board of education and regents races were included in the state canvass.

Decisions authorizing medical marijuana, prohibiting recognition of gay marriages and denying permission to invest the state treasury in private corporations were also certified by the canvass.