Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Long lines to vote delay Nevada election returns

Vegas

John Locher / AP

People wait in line at one of a few in-person voting places during a nearly all-mail primary election Tuesday, June 9, 2020, in Las Vegas.

Updated Tuesday, June 9, 2020 | 8:55 p.m.

Primary Election Voting

Election workers process mail-in ballots during a nearly all-mail primary election Tuesday, June 9, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) Launch slideshow »

Early returns from Nevada's primary election Tuesday were delayed after polling places in the state's two most populous counties were kept open to allow those waiting in long lines to vote.

Voters at some Las Vegas-area polling places Tuesday were waiting in lines of three hours or more despite Nevada officials encouraging people to cast their primary election ballots by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the Reno area, Washoe County officials reported delays of at least an hour. Hundreds were still in line when polls were supposed to close at 7 p.m.

The top-ticket races that voters were settling included contests for Nevada’s four U.S. House seats, but the incumbents — three Democrats and a Republican — are expected to sail through primary challenges. The biggest question Tuesday was which candidates will try to unseat them in November.

Nevada reduced in-person voting sites for the primary because of the coronavirus and instead sent absentee ballots to voters that could be mailed back or dropped off. For those who still showed up at the limited number of polling places, they were casting ballots Tuesday on paper rather than voting machines to limit contact with shared surfaces.

Nevada State Democratic Party Chair William McCurdy said the hourslong wait validated his organization's lawsuit against the state seeking to expand the number of in-person polling locations.

"Had the secretary of state gotten her way and Clark County voters were limited to just a single polling location, these wait times would have been even longer than the ones we’re seeing now," McCurdy said in a statement. "It is imperative the state offer an adequate amount of hygienic, well-organized polling locations, and we will continue fighting for these improvements to prevent a repeat in November should we find ourselves under the same circumstances.”

Turnout by 4 p.m. was 23%, and the secretary of state’s office was predicting turnout could reach 25% — which would be the highest in a decade for a Nevada primary.

Below is election coverage before the voting cutoff time.

No mailing it in: Voters line up to cast ballots in person

Today was Brandon Folmar’s first time voting. A Las Vegas resident for 13 years, he decided now, with the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests around the country, was the best time to make his voice heard.

Folmar said the protests have had “an amazing effect.”

“Going out, hearing other people’s voice, seeing your friends that are hurting and sad and need change, so one vote makes a difference,” Folmar said.

Folmar and his friend Aimee Holdredge lined up at the Paradise Recreation Center in Las Vegas early this morning to register Folmar to vote and cast their ballots in person.

Nevada’s primary has been conducted mostly by mail, though Clark County had three polling locations open today.

Folmar and Holdredge were part of a healthy, albeit slow-moving, line at the center. The reasons voters gave for turning up in person were varied — some said they didn’t receive a mail-in ballot, others waited too long to return them and others were concerned about ballot security.

Folmar and Holdredge said they consider themselves democratic socialists and were excited to vote for Ozzie Fumo for state Supreme Court and Fikisha Miller for District Court judge.

“I always have awe about voting,” Holdredge said. “It’s very exciting to bring someone who is registering for their first time.”

The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office released data on ballot returns this morning. In Clark County, 225,547 mail-in ballots had been returned, of which 111,052 were from Democrats and 78,136 were from Republicans. There were 996 in-person early voters, but that data was not broken down by party.

Some voters said they had not received mail-in ballots.

Pablo Antonio, a Democrat, said he and his family did not receive a ballot in the mail, so they had to come to the center to vote. He was voting Democrat down the ticket.

Nancy Castro also said she didn’t get a ballot in the mail, although she said she might have thrown it away with the junk mail.

“I think they made it look a little too much like a sweepstakes package,” she said. “From what I see on the commercials, first glance, (it looks like) Publisher’s Clearing House.”

Castro said she is unemployed, so she would wait as long as it took to vote. She said she’s a Democrat but was unsure who she would vote for in some local races.

“If it takes me an hour, then, oh well. If it takes me two, oh well. I’m just hanging out at home anyway,” she said.

Castro said the protests regarding the police may make her rethink voting for someone who touts endorsements from law enforcement organizations.

“Things have changed, and I’m not sure I want to back somebody who every single police organization is behind,” she said.

Rena Clay had another explanation for why she was voting in person. She waited too long to mail her ballot.

Clay said she was excited to vote for Rep. Dina Titus, the incumbent for the 1st Congressional District, and supported her in her previous campaigns.

Republican voters interviewed mainly said they showed up in person out of a concern over voter fraud.

Erik Nichols said he cast his ballot in person because he didn’t trust current political leadership.

“I don’t trust the Democrats in this town,” he said, calling Gov. Steve Sisolak a “fraud.”

He said he was more looking forward to the November general election, and was mainly voting today because of the judicial races.

Voter Johnny Scott, one of the first in line, raised concerns about mail-in ballot results being fraudulent.

He said he trusted voting machines, typically used in Nevada elections, more than the paper ballots being used this time. He called machines more secure.

The primary’s mail-in status has been the source of a partisan scuffle. Previously, state and national Democrats had sued the state due to the original plans, which only set aside one in-person voting location per county and would have sent mail-in ballots only to active voters with up-to-date addresses on the secretary of state’s voter rolls.

Clark County agreed to expand in-person voting locations and send out ballots to all registered voters. State and national Republicans, have recently sued Clark County officials, claiming that decision should not have been made without a public meeting. County spokesman Dan Kulin has said the lawsuit is based on “suspicions, not facts.”

Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, has released statements through her office reiterating security measures in place, including signature verification and specialized bar-code scanning. Signature verification, her office stresses, is part of the verification process for regular, in-person voting.

In-person polling locations will close at 7 p.m. Tuesday, though anyone in line at that time will still be able to vote. Unofficial results will be released afterward, though mail-in ballots postmarked by June 9 will be counted until June 16. Election results will be updated online daily at 9 a.m. from June 11 to June 17.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.