Republicans voting at greater rate than Democrats in early voting, as expected

Monday, May 24, 2010 | 7:27 a.m.

Just under 10,000 people have now voted early in Clark County, with just under 6,000 also voting by mail (absentees not counted on Sunday so totals same as Saturday) -- that's about 2.3 percent of registered voters. Extrapolating to the end of early voting, with a presumed increase during the second week, and overall turnout seems unlikely to hit much more than 30 percent for the June 8 primary -- if that. Yes, it is still early.

On Sunday, 1,636 Republicans voted and 1,936 Democrats went to the polls. The totals -- 4,329 Republicans have voted early and 2,693 by mail for a total of just over 3 percent of registered Republicans in Southern Nevada, and 4,558 Democrats have voted early and 2,622 by mail for 2.2 percent. So, proportionally, Republicans, who have much more reason to turn out (governor and U.S. Senate) are outpacing Democrats.