After two days of early voting, more than 54,000 Democrats and nearly 38,000 Republicans have cast their ballots in the state’s presidential primaries, according to data from the secretary of state’s office last updated Monday morning.
While the party-run Republican caucus is still a week and a half away, nearly all voters registered with either major party have been mailed a ballot for the primaries, and most of the votes cast so far have come via mail ballots.
Fewer than 4,000 Democrats and about 1,500 Republicans voted in-person this past weekend, with the vast majority of them in populous Clark County.
Turnout still remains low. The returned mail ballots accepted for counting represent only about 7.5 percent of the 1.15 million ballots mailed to major party voters.
Here are some other takeaways on turnout through Sunday:
- Mail returns are slower in Clark County.
Voters in the state’s most populous county, home to Las Vegas and Henderson, typically make up upwards of two-thirds of the electorate in each Nevada election. But so far, only about half of ballots cast have come from Clark County. Just under a third have come from Washoe County, with the rest from rural counties.
- Comparisons to past elections will be hard.
Primaries are run differently from caucuses. In these elections, voters can use mail ballots, unlike past caucuses or the GOP caucus being held this year on Feb. 8. Democrats only first used early voting in a caucus in 2020. So bear that in mind when seeing any turnout comparisons to caucuses of years past. But with that, here are turnout numbers from recent caucuses.
Unlike some recent past contests, including the 2020 Democratic caucus and 2016 Republican primary, this year’s presidential primaries feature less competition.
In the Democratic primary, President Joe Biden faces self help author Marianne Williamson and several longshot candidates.
In the Republican primary, Nikki Haley is the lone major candidate remaining on the ballot because former President Donald Trump is participating in the Feb. 8 caucus run by the Nevada GOP. Only the caucus will be used to award delegates.
Reminder for anyone who received a mail ballot: Nevadans can track the status of their ballot here.
