John Locher / AP
Where to vote early in Las Vegas
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023 | 4:33 p.m.
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar again urged residents Thursday to update their voter registration information to ensure they will be eligible to participate in the state-run Presidential Preference Primary or the Nevada Republican Party’s presidential preference caucuses — both of which are scheduled for early February.
Only voters registered as a Democrat or a Republican will be able to participate in the Feb. 6, 2024, closed primaries, after Aguilar’s office announced earlier this week 13 Democrats and seven Republicans filed to run in the primary ahead of the Oct. 16 filing deadline. State law mandates the secretary of state’s office must hold primaries for the two major parties as long as two or more candidates file with the office to run.
That’s in addition to six other Republicans who have opted to bypass the state-run primary in favor of the Nevada Republican Party’s Feb. 8 caucuses, which chairman Michael McDonald has asserted would be the method in which the state’s delegates will be awarded at the Republican National Convention July 15-18 in Milwaukee.
“Nevada is going to have an opportunity to have a major voice and who the actual president of the United States is,” Aguilar said in a digital press call. “And I think every Nevada voter recognizes the opportunity to have that national voice, which is exciting to give them the platform to be able to express that voice.”
With a Republican primary and caucus both taking place, Aguilar said his goal is “to ensure that we do some of the strongest and most aggressive” voter education possible to avoid confusion. But he said it’s also incumbent upon the Nevada GOP and Republican presidential hopefuls to inform their supporters of which convention they should participate in, and noted Republicans are free to participate in both the primary and the caucus should they choose.
“That's really the responsibility of the party to explain to its members how the process works, but it's also to educate who's on what ballot,” Aguilar said. “You have a certain group of candidates participating in the caucus, you have a certain group of the candidates participate in the primary. It's also going to be up to those candidates to educate their voters and their supporters as to which process they want to choose.”
Republican notables like former Vice President Mike Pence, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott comprise the seven-person field for the primary, while the caucus field is made up of former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Carolina Gov. Doug Burgum, and business advisor Ryan Binkley.
In a statement Tuesday announcing the finalized caucus field, the Nevada GOP said “all serious” Republican candidates are participating in the caucuses. The Sun this week sent inquiries to the campaigns of Pence, Haley and Scott asking why they chose to file for the primary, but none were returned in time for publication of this article.
Filing periods for both the state-run primaries and the state GOP-backed caucuses ran from Oct. 2 through Monday. The Sun reported in August that candidates must pay $55,000 to participate in the caucuses, of which $20,000 can be rebated if the candidate campaigns with the Nevada GOP.
Candidates also have until 5 p.m. Wednesday to withdraw from the PPP, which Aguilar said no candidate has done yet. State law states any candidate who withdraws from the primary must do so in person, either in Las Vegas or in Carson City.
Individuals also have until 5 p.m. Oct. 30 to challenge whether a candidate can appear on the ballot.
For now, Aguilar said his attention has turned to the 622,000 registered nonpartisans in Nevada and alerting that group to update their registration information if they wish to partake in the primary.
"It's important to speak to those voters about the primary process and to have them understand that if they wish to participate in the upcoming primary, they need to reregister with one of the major political parties,” Aguilar said.
Registered voters participating in the primaries, meanwhile, will be able to utilize early voting from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2. Same-day registration is also available up until the close of polls on Election Day, according to the Secretary of State’s office, allowing those with outdated registrations to update their party affiliation.
Those interested in registering to vote or updating their registration can visit RegisterToVote.NV.gov, or fill out a mail-in registration form, or register at any Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles office, county clerk’s office, or certain social service agencies or college campuses. The Secretary of State’s Office also notes all Nevadans who are active registered voters — unless they’ve opted out — will receive a ballot for the Presidential Preference Primary by mail.
