LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — With one day before the canvass by each county board of commissioners, we're getting a better idea of voter turnout here in Clark County.
According to the Secretary of State's office, there was about a 70% turnout, 5% lower than in 2020.
I spoke with Dan Lee, a political science professor at UNLV. He said it's not exactly comparing apples to apples because of the automatic registration of non-partisans in the state.
Instead, he says political scientists compare the number of people who voted with the voting-eligible population, rather than the number of registered voters.
"There hasn't necessarily been a statewide decrease in voter turnout once you account for that sort of thing," he said.
But he says there is a difference this time around that may have tilted things in President-elect Donald Trump's favor.
"There's been actually a decrease in the number of registered Democrats in the state and in Clark County, whereas there's been an increase in the number, the raw number of registered Republicans in the state and in Clark County," Lee said. "And I think that shifting partisanship among voters in the states is really what contributed to the change in election outcomes from 2020 and 2024, rather than voter turnout."
The other interesting thing he noted is that voter turnout in Nevada tends to be lower than the other swing states, though it's not entirely clear why that's the case.
