Clark County sees scant turnout in early vote so far

Less than 1 percent of Clark County’s voters cast their ballot in-person over the holiday weekend during the first three days of early voting in Nevada.

Just more than 12,000 voters cast a ballot during the first three days of early voting in Clark County, according to the county’s election turnout figures. With about 1.28 million active registered voters in the county as of the end of April, that three-day turnout represents 0.94 percent of the county’s active voter pool.

That’s about 6,000 fewer votes than the nearly 18,000 cast in-person during the first three days of early voting in the 2018 primary elections, which was about 1.8 percent of the county’s registered voters at the time.

But Clark’s 2022 numbers don’t yet include mail-in ballots, which will make up a large chunk of the total votes cast once things are fully tallied.

So far, Republicans have a slight lead over Democrats — 5,796 versus 5,068 respectively. With only a handful of primary races to vote in, nonpartisans have cast 1,198 early votes, according to county figures.

Under a law adopted first during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but later made permanent by the 2021 Legislature, every active registered voter in Nevada was sent a ballot in the mail, unless they specifically opt out with their county registrar of voters.

In Washoe County, Nevada’s second most populous county, 12,038 people have voted so far through mail-in ballots and in-person early voting through the first three days, according the registrar’s website. Of those, 5,090 are Democrats, 4,433 are Republicans and the remaining 2,515 are nonpartisan.

The only other mail-in ballot primary election in Nevada was the pandemic-affected 2020 primary. But that’s difficult to compare to this year since that election took place in the early months of the outbreak and saw fewer than 8,000 total ballots cast in-person across the state, compared to more than 483,000 mail-in ballots. The 2020 general election was more balanced, with 48.5 percent of the votes being cast via mail ballots.

The secretary of state’s office said it is considering publishing statewide turnout numbers after the first week of early voting.

Early voting ends on June 10, and locations and more information are available on the county’s website. Primary election day is June 14. Mail ballots must be postmarked no later than Election Day, and the election department must receive the ballot by 5 p.m. on June 18.

People who fill out a mail ballot but don’t want to mail it in can drop it off at a government office or at a vote center, either during early voting or on Election Day.

Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.