Turnout on the first day of early voting was “crazy,” George Guthrie, spokesperson for the Washoe County Registrar of Voters, said Saturday.
“It’s definitely a lot busier than it has been in the primary and the presidential preference primary,” with people voting in person or dropping off mail-in ballots, Guthrie said. “We’re actually seeing lines at some vote centers.”
One of those lines was at South Valleys Library, where over 100 people were queued up at 10:30 a.m. Several of them said election security concerns brought them out to vote in person or drop their mail-in ballot off.
More: Nevada early voting: Where to vote or drop off your ballot for 2024 election
Christie and David Phillips were among the first in line to use the voting machines. The Washoe residents said they don’t trust the system and voting in person is the only way to make sure their vote is counted.
“Nevada’s got the mail-in balloting and we don’t trust that,” David Phillips said. “They need to take that away. Return it back to the way it used to be.”
The line was moving slowly, but the Phillipses said they were “guinea pigs” because the election workers were still getting used to the new digital voting system.
“But they were really great in there,” Christie Phillips said.
Guthrie said the new Voter Registration and Election Management System, or VREMS, will take some getting used to for both election workers and voters, so he encouraged voters to check the voting center wait times online.
The VREMS system centralizes voter data across the state, rather than by county, which elections administrators say reduces the potential for errors. It went live earlier this year, and this is the first election the system is being used.
Carol and Ron Moschetti said they were willing to wait because they know the process is slower with the new security measures.
“I really believe that they’re just trying to figure it out. I think this was their trial run and they’ll figure it out. No complaints,” Ron Moschetti said.
Jennifer and James Massey came down to early vote just to get it over with. They are wary of mail-in ballots and have some business trips coming up, so they wanted to make sure they got their votes in in time. They placed their ballots in the dropbox.
“I felt very comfortable with the process,” Jennifer Massey said.
As for the election itself, James Massey called it a “circus.”
Jennifer Massey agreed, saying she was tired of hearing candidates dish out negative comments. She wished they would focus on specific policies and what they want to do to help the American people.
“Both candidates are idiots. This is the worst year of elections I can remember,” James Massey said.
Mike and Lindy Leonard, Nancy and Gary Rinehert and Susan and Craig Bambrough were among those who didn’t have to wait in line — they stopped by to drop off their mail-in ballots before they headed off to breakfast.
All three couples said it was an easy process. They filled out their ballots beforehand and went straight to the much shorter drop-off line to confirm their signatures.
“We could see how well it was running. They’re doing a good job,” Lindy Leonard said of election workers.
Mike Leonard said their top concern is keeping elections fair. His wife agreed, saying she believed the last presidential election was not fair.
“I think a lot of people feel the same,” Lindy Leonard said, pointing to the large turnout as a sign that many others agree with her.
Nancy Rinehert said she was baffled by the results of the last presidential election because she remembers thousands of people showing up in the freezing cold to vote on Election Day, many of them Republicans. Joe Biden won Washoe County in 2020 by 5 percentage points.
The six Washoe residents said everyone needs to get out and vote.
“You’re voting by not voting,” Mike Leonard said.
“Nobody is going to have everything that you want, so pick your poison,” Lindy Leonard said. “Someone is going to get elected.”
Early voting runs through Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 5.
Jaedyn Young covers local government for the Reno Gazette-Journal. Her wages are 100% funded by donations and grants; if you’d like to see more stories like this one, please consider donating at RGJ.com/donate. Send your story ideas and feedback to Jaedyn at jyoung@rgj.com.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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