At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Secretary of State's office reported that over 181,000 voters have cast their ballots in the primary. A majority of those votes were submitted by mail. Registered Republicans made up more than 69,800 of the voters.
President Joe Biden won by a overwhelming margin in the Democratic primary, with over 89% of all votes at the time of publication on Wednesday. The "none of these" option emerged as the winner on the Republican side. "None of these candidates" currently has 63% of the votes, while Nikki Haley has 30% at the time of publication.
"She (Nikki Haley) was told as were all the candidates you're not eligible to any delegates to the national convention. We were trying as, as a party as a whole, preclude there being a primary to save the taxpayers some money," said Washoe County Republican Party Chairman Bruce Parks.Â
Parks told us that six candidates paid $55,000 each to participate in the Nevada GOP Caucus in order to pay for the caucus. The only candidates still remaining in the caucus are former President Donald Trump and Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley.Â
While the final mail ballots arrive and get processed, the Washoe County Elections office tells us they are still fielding calls regarding the Nevada Republican's split primary/caucus process.
"For us, the phone calls are still happening because people want to know about the caucus. They're asking us about that. We turn around and give them the phone number to the GOP headquarters because they're the experts on the caucus; we're not," said Washoe County Interim Registrar of the Voters Cari-Ann Burgess.
A question remains: how will the Republican statewide primary voter turnout from Tuesday compare to the Republican caucus voter turnout on Thursday?
"I'm hoping that the majority of the Republican voters in Washoe County will realize that the caucus is where their voice will matter," said Parks.Â
While the state primary was more accessible to vote in because of early and mail-in ballots, caucus-goers must be physically present at their precinct location on Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to cast their ballot.
"Does the caucus require involvement? You bet it does. Does it require that you at least care enough to inconvenience yourself for one night, maybe, and appear someplace so you can cast your ballot and have your voice heard," said Parks.
The caucus does accommodate voters with disabilities as well as military personnel who are unable to make it.
