So our Dotard in Chief wrapped up his western state campaign swing by holding one of his insane rallies in Elko, NV to get out the vote for Sen. Dean Heller and Nevada republican candidates. The voters were so impressed by Trump’s tales of Californians rioting over sanctuary cities and Heller’s slobbering all over Don the con, that they rushed to the polls en masse to cast their votes. Well, at least the democrats did. The good news started trickling in on Nevada political guru Jon Ralston’s twitter feed in the late afternoon.
Ralston also reported from the Nevada Secretary of State’s site that final registration numbers showed democrats maintaining ~75,000 edge statewide and ~137,000 edge in Clark county (Las Vegas area). Total registration is 1,560,928 with 38% registered democrats, 33.5% registered republicans, and 28.5% registered third party or non-partisan.
Rural counties reported first with a few thousand votes that split 2 to 1 in the favor of the GOP as expected. Then battleground Washoe county (Reno-Tahoe area) reported 6917 votes. The partisan breakdown is a shocker.
Conventional wisdom is that statewide, democrats win by keeping it even in Washoe, then turning out the base in Clark county. So then the wait was on to see what the partisan breakdown in Clark county was. Las Vegas Dems did not disappoint.
For some perspective on how this compares to early voting in 2014:
Ralston, Taniel and other early vote watchers all said that while this is a hugely promising start for Nevada democrats, we would have to see if there is a drop-off in turnout, or if it’s a sign of things to come.
Sunday, Oct 21, 2018 · 5:16:13 PM +00:00 · blugrlnrdst
Absentee/mail ballots received up until yesterday now added to ballot totals. GOP had the edge with absentees, but significantly more people have voted early in person so democrats still have the overall edge.
Oh, and news from Elko. . .
Monday, Oct 22, 2018 · 12:12:00 AM +00:00 · blugrlnrdst
Since it’s Sunday only some counties have polling places open. Both Clark and Washoe counties have sites open today. Turnout numbers in Clark are still way up from 2014.
As for whether Trump’s Elko rally had a positive affect on area turnout, well. . .