GOP makes registered voter gains

RENO — Republicans made some inroads into Democrats’ voter registration edge in Nevada last year, but Democrats still hold a significant advantage of more than 76,000 active voters.

Democrats led by more than 97,000 registered voters last January, with about 595,000 to the GOP’S 498,000.

But end-of-year numbers posted by the Secretary of State’s Office show that, as of Jan. 1, the advantage has shrunk to about 76,000 — or 565,904 Democrats and 489,674 Republicans.

Thetotalnumberofactiveregistered voters statewide dipped from 1.5 million in January 2017 to 1.46 million last month as Nevada gears up for a key off-year election.

Clark Couwnty is the only one of Nevada’s 17 counties where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans. But 70 percent of all the state’s active registered voters live in the county. Democrats outnumber Republicans42percentto29percent (433,929 to 299,993)

The breakdown in party affiliation is close in Washoe County, which includes Reno and Sparks. Republicans lead Democrats there 104,427 to 100,017.

The GOP enjoys more than a 2-to-1 margin in several rural counties. It has a 3-to-1 lead in some places, including Elko County, where there are more than 12,000 active registered Republicans and fewer than 4,000 Democrats, and Churchill County, with about 7,600 Republicans and 2,400 Democrats.

Democrats now make up 38.7 percent of the state’s active voters, Republicans 33.5 percent, nonpartisans 21.3 percent, the Independent Americanparty4.4percent,libertarians 1 percent and other parties combined 1.1 percent.