Voter turnout in Nevada’s Tuesday primary was light — despite most ballots being mailed in — and state insiders believe the final tally will be thinner than the odds at a craps table.
Democrats topped Republicans in voting — 95,346 Dem ballots recorded by midnight Tuesday versus 84,118 GOP ballots cast — but those figures, along with 28,199 “no party” votes, only amount to 14.47% of eligible voters, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco V. Aguilar (D) reported.
The bulk of ballots in the primary came in via mail, Aguilar’s office said.
A total of 121,000 postal ballots were received, with 42,260 cast in person Election Day and 44,399 during early voting.
The overall turnout disappointed observers.
Political expert Jon Ralston, editor of The Nevada Independent, predicted the final count would fall short of even one in five voters casting primary ballots.
The thin numbers left one congressional primary — to select a GOP nominee in the state’s 4th Congressional District — dangling like a hanging chad on Wednesday afternoon.
Republican John Lee, a former North Las Vegas mayor, led retired Air Force Lt. Col. David Flippo by 1,124 votes as of Wednesday afternoon.
The race remains uncalled by local media.
“I am grateful for the support we’ve received so far and remain optimistic as we await the final results,” Lee said via email Wednesday.
“It’s crucial that every vote is counted, and we will respect the process until the race is officially called.”
A campaign insider maintained Lee, a Democrat who switched parties in 2021 and earned former President Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement in this race, will emerge victorious: “There’s just not that many votes out there remaining.”
Lee’s electoral effort was apparently unaffected by the last-minute release on a website of what was purported to be an audio recording of the politician soliciting a mother and her teenage daughter for sex.
The campaign claimed this was a “deepfake,” and Lee sued activist Lou Colagiovanni — who was also connected to former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s scandals — along with Flippo, his campaign and a raft of unnamed individuals, alleging defamation, the “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and “conspiracy.”
A Flippo spokesman said the military vet’s campaign “was not involved in the publication of this website or recording in any way” and had alerted Lee to the recording’s existence “six months ago.”
Whoever wins the district, which stretches from just north of the Las Vegas Strip to a northeast border with Arizona, will challenge Rep. Steven Horsford, a three-term incumbent.
The Democratic congressman won his party’s primary with 90.19% of the vote, per the secretary of state’s office.
Election officials said postal ballots received by June 15 will be counted.
Those choosing to mail in ballots had until Tuesday night to get them postmarked.
The question of how mail-in ballots were to be handled this year sparked massive concern over US Postal Service plans to reorganize mail handling and shift some sorting and distribution hubs.
A plan to reroute mail from Reno and northern Nevada to Sacramento, Calif., some 140 miles away, is reportedly on hold until well after the November elections.
“We are unaware of current service issues or delays” in handling primary ballots in Clark and Washoe Counties, where the bulk of Nevada voters live, a USPS spokesman told The Post.
“Further, we have no indications of ballot delays, tampering with or inability to collect Election Mail from boxes or individual Post Offices.”
He said the agency “is committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s Election Mail.”
But at an April 17 Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was criticized by Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, who said he feared for mail-in voting this year.
“I’ve put together a specific infrastructure within the organization that works with all election boards throughout the year,” DeJoy replied.
He said the USPS lays on extra trips to transport mail, adds “extra people on site” and has “special oversight” areas for mail ballots.
“You should expect the same good service we’ve been delivering since I’ve been here,” he told Hawley.
Reliable postal voting could be important to the Donald Trump campaign, which this month said it will launch a “Swamp the Vote” effort to encourage early and mail-in voting, a marked change from its earlier stance.
The ex-prez said, “Republicans must win and we will use every appropriate tool to beat the Democrats because they are destroying our country. Whether you vote absentee, by mail, early in-person or on election day, we are going to protect the vote.”
