Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Locals brave wind to vote early
Only 8,582 county residents cast ballots on first day of civic duty
Eighteen-year-old college student Amira Ezzarhri made her way through the line at the Galleria at Sunset mall Saturday morning, carrying her mail-in ballot with her. She was excited to vote for the first time for candidates who focused on the issues she cares about.
“I feel pretty confident and excited as well,” said Ezzarhri, who pre-registered to vote when she was 16.
Ezzarhri joined thousands of Nevada voters on the first day of early voting, although the heavy winds dampened turnout.
By about 4 p.m., Clark County saw 8,582 people turn out for the first day of in-person early voting, a lower turnout than expected, Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said.
“It’s because of the weather. People decided to stay home. A lot of our sites are in tents, and you have to weather the wind,” Gloria said.
He said he saw many people drop off ballots at the drop boxes on the first day of early voting, and the county will begin processing those Sunday and will have more specific turnout numbers Monday.
Engaged voters
Ezzarhri said she is passionate about gun control in light of recent school shootings and also about climate change.
“I’m very passionate about climate change. I definitely believe there should be more education about that. It’s something that will affect us, that is affecting us now and will continue to affect us in the future,” she said.
Ezzarhri said she is particularly excited to vote for Rep. Dina Titus, D-nev., because she is working to reduce climate change within the state.
Roberta Oslansky, a Henderson resident of 27 years, votes at the Galleria mall every election. It took her 10 minutes to vote at 10 a.m. Saturday, but in previous years she had to wait two hours to vote there.
Oslansky said she does not trust mail-in ballots and prefers voting in person, bringing her filled-out sample ballot. The price of gas and food, as well as immigration and crime, are issues important to her.
At the East Las Vegas Library early voting center, a steady stream of voters flowed through the library in the morning.
Las Vegas resident James Buckley, wearing a mask and using crutches, brought along his sample ballot to help him vote Saturday. He just received a kidney transplant and was going to mail in his ballot instead of voting in person, but he made a mistake with it and had to discard the ballot.
“I don’t get out too much because I’m handicapped. I want my vote to count so I did what I had to do to get here,” Buckley said.
Buckley, a Democrat, likes incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. In the governor’s race, Buckley said he met Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo and thinks he is nice, but he does not like his stances.
“Crime is up and he wants to be governor. I’m thinking, ‘OK. Well, you can do something now, can’t you? I mean, you’re the sheriff. I don’t see anything wrong with (Gov. Steve) Sisolak. He’s tried to keep us safe,” Buckley said.
Las Vegas resident Karina Castro said she is most concerned about crime and voted for Lombardo at the East Las Vegas Library.
“We just want change, and I think Joe Lombardo specifically, with the police and everything, is probably the best one right now for the city,” Castro said.
‘If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain’
At around 11:30 a.m. Saturday almost all the voting machines at the Boulevard Mall were occupied. While there wasn’t a line, there was a steady stream of people coming to vote or dropping off a mail ballot.
Peggy Thompson voted on a touch-screen voting machine and said apart from having to go back to a page she missed, everything went off without a hitch.
“If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain if things aren’t done,” Thompson said. “Because sometimes all it takes is one vote.”
Stephanie Prete and her husband, Adam Parascandola, came to vote on the first day of early voting because Parascandola will be traveling out of the country Sunday. He said he and his wife considered voting by mail but felt more comfortable voting in person.
“I think it’s become critically important to vote. For Las Vegas specifically, we’re happy with the way the state is being run right now and I don’t want to see a lot of change,” Prete said. “I don’t want to see conservatives, election deniers, those kind of people taking over this wonderful state.”
Both Democrat and Republican campaigns held Get Out the Vote events Saturday, encouraging Nevadans to cast their ballots.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt, made several stops throughout rural Southern Nevada on his GOTV tour, which also included visits around Las Vegas, including Summerlin. He ended the day campaigning in Reno, where he was joined by other prominent Republicans, including Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Ronna Mcdaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.
Laxalt slammed his opponent, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, for high gas prices and “the open border” and repeatedly tied the senator to President Joe Biden.
“So if you want to take back our state and you want to take back our country, this is our shot. If you are not doing something to help us win this state, you need to commit to that today,” he told the crowd.
Just the day before at a Reno campaign event, Cortez Masto was joined by a group of Republicans who blasted Laxalt for his unwillingness to condemn the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and his continued efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Cortez Masto emphasized her ability to “put party politics aside” and criticized her opponent for not standing with law enforcement following the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“Police officers lost their lives. But to this day, even during that day, even at that moment, even weeks after, not once did I hear Adam Laxalt, a former attorney general who claims to stand with law enforcement, condemn what happened that day.”
At the Las Vegas headquarters of Culinary Union Local 226, hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning at a rally for Democratic candidates before heading out to canvass voters. Union leaders and Sisolak, Cortez Masto and Titus fired up the crowd and highlighted the importance of voting in the election.
“We have made so much progress in the last four years on worker rights. We’re going to do more on rent stabilization and protecting people’s job. But all the progress that we’ve made is on the line right now,” Sisolak said, stressing the importance of Democratic candidates winning their races.