LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — What would you guess is the largest primary election turnout in Nevada in the last two decades?
Hint: It's lower than you think.
Going all the way back to 2000, Nevada has never posted a higher primary election turnout than the 30.12%, which was logged in the 2010 primary election.
Why 2010?
It wasn't a presidential election year, although that doesn't really matter since Nevada nominated presidential candidates with a caucus [through 2020] or a separate presidential preference primary election [starting in 2022].
No. In 2010, two very high-profile Republican races were on the primary ballot.
First, former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle led a full roster of 12 candidates fighting for the right to challenge then-incumbent U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. Angle bested hotelier and former news anchor Sue Lowden; former Assemblymen Chad Christensen and Garn Mabey; and perennial candidate Danny Tarkanian, among others.
But Angle went on to lose the general election to Reid.
Second, there was a bitter Republican primary fight for governor, pitting incumbent Jim Gibbons against Brian Sandoval, a former assemblyman, attorney general, Gaming Commission chair and federal judge. Sandoval won that historic race, making Gibbons the first incumbent governor to be denied renomination by his own party in Nevada history.
Primary turnout has ranged from a low of 17.97% in 2008 to the high of 2010, but it's averaged 24.38% over the last 22 years.
In-person Election Day voting was replaced by early voting as the most popular method of casting ballots in the election of 2012, but mail voting became the most popular method during the pandemic in 2020. It remains the most popular primary voting method today.
Nevada isn't too far off its neighboring states either. Arizona has seen a primary turnout average of 28.22% since 2000 while nearby Utah maintains a 19% average over the same period, according to data from the states' respective election offices.
In this year's election, with just three days of early voting in the books, the state reports that 47,771 votes were cast, as of Tuesday. Mail ballots account for the vast majority with just less than 10,000 in-person early votes.
Democrats are ahead by a little more than 2,000 votes, with 7,000 "other" votes counted thus far. Republicans are beating Democrats in early voting, but Democrats are sending in more mail ballots than their GOP competitors.
Thus far, turnout sits at 4.1%.
Early voting continues through June 7, with primary Election Day on June 11. You can find a list of early voting centers and their hours of operation on the Clark County elections department website. You can also use the site locator tool to find the closest voting center to you, no matter where you are in the valley. To check your voter registration or vote history, to go registertovote.nv.gov.
If you have a question about politics, elections or government, you can Ask Steve via the link on our website. He will endeavor to answer your questions on air or online.
