The Nevada Independent is using this live blog to monitor key developments while polls remain open on Election Day. Check back for updates.
Allegiant Stadium polling site draws curious voters and Sen. Rosen
Las Vegas residents Jarrett Clark and Anthony Pecora have voted together on Election Day every year for more than a decade. They said it’s a tradition.
Clark and Pecorra thought Allegiant Stadium would be a unique venue for 2024 rather than a school or community center.
“We’ve been here for concerts but never for a football game,” Clark said. “It’s the first time they ever opened the stadium as a voting center.”
The pair said they walked right in and cast their ballots. The Clark County Elections Department had 25 check-in stations and 25 voting booths.
Plus, they also received an Allegiant Stadium-themed black and silver “I voted” sticker along with the traditional red, white and blue sticker handed out by Clark County. Clark and Pecora also took a photo with two of the Las Vegas Raiders Raiderettes cheerleaders.
More than 100 voters were in line before the polls opened. Very quickly, however, the wait time vanished. At one point, local, national and international media crews assigned to Allegiant Stadium outnumbered voters.
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) arrived shortly after 9 a.m. with a large group of local labor union members and first-time voters to cast her ballot in the race against Republican Sam Brown. In remarks to the media afterward, Rosen encouraged Nevadans to vote.
Josh Arrizazia, who recently moved to Las Vegas from Southern California, said he was also excited about using Allegiant Stadium as a polling location. When asked about his selection for president, Arrizazia said he was leaning one way after listening to a podcast with Joe Rogan, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump.
However, he changed his mind after watching an interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I respect Bernie’s views. That changed my opinion,” he said.
— Howard Stutz, 11:20 a.m., Las Vegas
Republicans lead early Nevada Election Day turnout, but by smaller margins than in past
In the first statewide report of in-person Election Day turnout, Democrats made up about 30 percent of the nearly 57,000 votes cast by 10 a.m., while Republicans made up about 37 percent.
This is an improvement for the Democrats compared with 2020 and 2022. In 2020, registered Democrats made up about 22 percent of in-person Election Day votes as of 10 a.m., while Republicans made up about 40 percent of the initial tally. Registered Republicans entered Election Day with a more than 40,000-vote advantage over registered Democrats, meaning they could be cannibalizing some of their past Election Day voting totals.
In Clark County, Democrats held a slight advantage over Republicans after trailing by double digits at the same time in 2020. Across all of Election Day in 2022, Republicans also had a 15 percentage point lead over Democrats.
In Washoe County, Republicans had a 10 percentage point lead over Democrats in the first three hours of in-person Election Day voting. That is about half of the GOP lead in the first three hours of voting on Election Day in 2020 and Washoe Republicans’ advantage across all of Election Day in 2022.
In Nevada’s rural counties, registered Democrats made up about 12 percent of in-person Election Day voters, while registered Republicans made up about 56 percent and had a raw vote lead of about 3,600.
Across Election Day in 2022, registered Republicans made up about two-thirds of rural votes cast in person, while registered Democrats made up about 11 percent.
— Eric Neugeboren, 11:15 a.m.
Long lines in first few hours of voting
As of 10:15 a.m., nearly 43,000 people had voted in person in Clark County.
Wait times were about an hour at the Galleria at Sunset. The line grew as the morning went on and went out the door before 10 a.m.
Emily Zamora, the executive director of Silver State Voices, a civic engagement group, said in a phone call at around 9 a.m. that there has not been “anything extraordinary” in terms of reports of harassment against election workers.
The group is monitoring Election Day activities throughout the day.
“I think that there are lots of observers out there that are monitoring the election,” Zamora said. “I think that there are some good folks with good intent, and I think that there are some folks that might be out there with not the best intent.”
— Rocio Hernandez, 10:15 a.m., Henderson
The lines were shorter at Reno High School on Tuesday morning, where Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown cast his ballot.
Asked by The Nevada Independent whether he will accept the results of the election, Brown said “our country is going to make a choice, and I’m prepared to — and I believe most people are prepared to — live by that.”
In South Reno, a line snaked out the door of the library and wait times hovered around 40 minutes as a steady stream of cars drove into the parking lot.
Across the county, wait times hover around half an hour with a few outliers. Campaigns and candidates were waving signs and greeting voters. Signs along some side streets urged passing drivers to turnout.
To check wait times at voting locations in Washoe County, click on this link.
— Tabitha Mueller, 10 a.m., Reno
Polls open
Election Day voting centers opened at 7 a.m. across the state, allowing those who did not participate during early voting to cast their ballots.
As of Monday morning, about 1.1 million Nevadans cast a ballot in the general election, either through mail ballots or in-person voting, bringing the total voter turnout to 53 percent.
So far, almost 50 percent of those who have already weighed in have cast a mail ballot, including about 14 percent of Democrats and about 23 percent of Republicans.
Among those who already voted, almost 34 percent were Democrats and nearly 38 percent were Republicans. Other party registrations accounted for about 28 percent of the total turnout.
To speed up the reporting process for results, the secretary of state issued guidance requesting counties to start tabulating mail ballots on Oct. 21, 15 days before Election Day. In-person early votes can be tabulated starting as early as 8 a.m. on Election Day.
There is no restriction on processing mail ballots before that timeline, which can entail sorting the ballots, reviewing the signature on the return envelope and storing the ballot in a secure location, among other procedural tasks.
Though tabulation begins Tuesday morning, unofficial results will not begin posting until all polls are closed and the last voter in line anywhere in the state has cast their ballot.
To vote on Election Day, voters must be in line by 7 tonight. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5.
— Tabitha Mueller, 7 a.m., Reno
