Jon Ralston: “Dems Have 21,000-Vote Advantage in Urban Nevada after Blowout Weekend”
2016 GOTV canvassing operations, pro-immigrant energy and enthusiasm, and anti-Trump sentiments are helping to bolster candidates who support immigrant issues in key Latino-heavy states, including Nevada. After only two days of early voting, Nevadan Democrats have nearly a 21,000-vote advantage.
Since June, the Immigrant Voters Win PAC has canvassed over 100,000 Nevadan voters, including 31% of Latino and AAPI voters who participated in the first weekend of early voting.
Leading political journalist Jon Ralston assesses the initial early vote totals in the state and notes that Democrats have jumped out to an early lead:
“How much of this is people wanting to end their participation in a relentlessly depressing election and how much is the result of the Democratic machine resurfacing after a 2014 hiatus will become clear after a few more days. But this is an ominous beginning for Republicans, who show little enthusiasm so far … this is the kind of break out of the starting gates the Democrats wanted.”
Also in Nevada, the Washington Post’s James Hohman describes key details and implications about the state’s early vote operations:
“The media tends to focus on the lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton relative to President Obama, which is real, but a few thousand more ballots were cast in Nevada on Saturday — during the first day of early voting — than during the kickoff day four years ago, when there was a similar flurry of activity to propel Democrats to the polls. And that was before Air Force One touched down yesterday afternoon.
…As much as 60 percent of the vote will be cast before Nov. 8 in the Silver State. Democrats have for several cycles dominated early voting, running up the score so that Republicans struggle to overcome it on Election Day.
…Early voting also gives Democrats more opportunities to turn out Latinos who have never voted before. Mi Familia Vota and Voto Latino co-hosted a four-hour block party Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a mall that has an early voting site.
… Martinez also brought her dad with her to vote. The 58-year-old was born in Mexico and speaks Spanish. He became a U.S. citizen more than a decade ago but had never voted before Saturday. The chance to vote against Trump changed that. He was very excited.”
Viridiana Vidal, State Director of Nevada’s Voice, said, “Ahead of Nevada’s voter registration deadline, we built a taco truck wall around Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel to register Nevadans to vote. Throughout the event, we heard from people ready to stand up and fight back with their vote. Over the next two weeks, we’re ramping up our get-out-the-vote efforts and encouraging our neighbors to vote early. Our community will not forget the hate filled rhetoric spewed by the GOP this election cycle, and we will be the wall between Donald Trump and the White House.”
