Carson City sees strong primary turnout; Republican and sheriff races dominate
With less than two hours to go before Carson City polls close, Clerk/Recorder Alan Glover reports a busy primary day with a voter turnout, when all is said and done, that may be around 45 percent.
"It's going real well. The turnout is much better than we expected," Glover said, adding that early voting and absentee returns should represent about 30 percent of the cast ballots.
The breakdown in turnout seems to be largely Republican, with a 60-40 split, however the race for Carson City sheriff may be bringing out a lot of non-partisans and Democrats, he said.
With the large Republican turnout, Glover said it makes sense because the high-profile contested races are for senate and governor. With established Democrats on the ballot and less contentious races, it didn't drive as many of the party-goers to the polls.
"We see more Republicans, traditionally, come to the primary races," he said. "I would say the sheriff's race has brought out a lot of the non-partisans and Democrats."
Returning from the Carson City Community Center this afternoon, Glover said the potential of a 45 percent voter turnout in Carson City would be significant, largely because of the 30 percent absentee and early voting ballot returns.
"I was at the Community Center this afternoon and it was full; they weren't standing in line but there were a lot of voters there," Glover said.
Sue Merriwether, Carson City chief deputy clerk for elections said earlier today that both precinct locations reported a steady flow of voters come through the doors.
No problems have been reported with the Diebold voting machines, either, other than a couple of printer jams, Glover added.
There was one complaint that a candidate was campaigning too close to the fairgrounds precinct, but it wasn't a justified complaint because the candidate's vehicle was outside the boundaries. And one voter was told to remove their campaign button in the polling area, but otherwise, there haven't been any problems.
"Overall, it has run really smoothly," he said.
Polls close at 7 p.m. Carson Now will have election returns as soon as they are made available.
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