What Nevada’s primary and caucus turnout tells us: Voters prefer primaries

More Nevada Republicans chose to cast ballots in the state-run presidential preference primary than participate in the party-run caucus, according to reported turnout numbers. And on the other side of the aisle, Democrats saw record levels of participation in their uncompetitive primary compared to their caucuses from previous, more competitive election cycles.

As the dust settles from Nevada’s primary and caucus, voting access advocates are hoping one takeaway will be that the primary is more accessible to the general public, and that recent election reforms are popular among voters.

Kerry Durmick, Nevada director for All Voting Is Local, called the presidential preference primary “the most expansive election” the state has seen, thanks to the adoption of universal mail ballots and other features like same-day voter registration.

“The evidence is pretty clear,” she said, “turnout was better than all of the past caucuses.”

She continued, “And in the future, when we might have a presidential primary that might have more candidates on both sides, this will be extremely important.”

Approximately 60,000 Nevadans participated in Thursday’s Republican caucus between former President Donald Trump and the largely unknown Ryan Binkley, according to The Associated Press. Meanwhile, approximately 79,000 cast ballots in the Republican primary, an election administered by the Nevada secretary of state and counties across the state. The primary featured Nikki Haley, nearly a dozen other candidates (but not Trump), and the option “none of these candidates.”

Participation in both events was legal and even encouraged by some.

One Trump backer and Nevada Republican Party official said they were telling supporters to select “none of these candidates” in the primary since the former president did not appear on ballots. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has endorsed Trump, said he planned to do that.

The Nevada State Republican Party emphasized on its caucus website and materials that the results of the state-run primary would not be used for delegate allocation.

Still, voters participated in record numbers compared to caucuses held in prior years, and most used a method of voting that many Republican lawmakers want to ban.

The majority of primary voters cast their ballots by mail: 75% of Republicans and 80% of Democrats, according to turnout reports.

Among those that voted in person, participation was split across early voting and Election Day: 11.1% of the total turnout occurred during the primary’s one-week early voting period while 10.8% occurred on Election Day.

That split between early voting and Election Day voting mirrors trends seen in other elections held by the state.

“The most important part from Tuesday’s presidential primary was that it was an extremely successful election,” said Durmick. “There were very, very few problems across the state. Voters were able to exercise their right to vote.”

This year’s primary saw a higher Republican turnout than the 2016 Nevada Republican caucus, which involved more than one viable candidate and was not held concurrently with a state-run primary. That year, approximately 75,000 people weighed in on Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and other candidates. No caucus was held in 2020.

Participation was also higher for Democrats whose ballots included an incumbent and no major challengers. President Joe Biden easily won the Democratic primary.

Approximately 133,000 voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary. That’s higher than what the Democratic party saw during its 2020 presidential caucus, where approximately 105,000 voters weighed in on a crowded field that included Biden, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, among others.

Democratic turnout for this year’s primary also topped the 2008 caucus between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, according to the Nevada State Democratic Party. Approximately 118,000 participated in that highly competitive caucus.