Week 1 of early voting is over. Here is the turnout. • Nevada Current

According to a report from the Secretary of State, more than 550,000 ballots had been accepted by the end of the first week of early voting.

This brings turnout to date to 28% of eligible registered voters, with a week of in-person early voting and Election Day still to come. Under state law, ballots can be received by mail and counted up to four days after Election Day, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.

More than half – 56% – of voters have used a ballot paper so far, further highlighting this the popularity of the postal voting optionwhich Nevada implemented in 2020 in response to Covid and then was made permanent in 2021.

In 2020, only 7% of voters physically cast their votes.

In 2016, the last presidential election before the move to universal mail-in ballots, 62% of turnout occurred during early voting, and only 6% came by mail (also called absentee). The remaining votes were cast on election day.

Following on from previous elections, Democrats show a stronger preference for mail-in ballots than Republicans. Two-thirds, 66%, of Democratic turnout to date has been mail, compared to 44% of Republican turnout.

Republicans have expressed doubts about mail-in ballots in previous cycles and encouraged in-person voting on Election Day. Ahead of the general election, former President Donald Trump and others are encouraging people to vote early and by every available means.

According to the SOS report, more registered Republicans have voted so far than registered Democrats. The overall turnout was 40% Republican, 35% Democrat and 25% nonpartisan or third party. How these independent voters lean is seen as crucial to the outcome of the presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, as we see other competitive races go up and down in the vote.

Turnout by county ranges from a paltry 7.7% in rural Esmeralda County, which has just 543 active registered voters, to 42% in Nye County, which has about 33,000 active registered voters.

Clark County, which has 1.4 million active registered voters, has a 26% turnout so far. Washoe County, which has about 328,000 active registered voters, has a 30% turnout.

The NV SOS Bureau publishes attendance reports every day. They can be viewed here online.

The coming week

Both candidates return to Southern Nevada on Thursday. Trump will hold an afternoon rally at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson. The Harris campaign has not released details on where and when her rally will be, but has said she will perform with the influential Mexican rock band Maná.

Mana last month removed from streaming websites a song with reggaeton singer Nicky Jam after Jam endorsed Trump and appeared on stage with him at a rally in downtown Las Vegas. (At that rally, Trump appeared to mistakenly believe that Jam was a woman, asking the crowd as he introduced him, “Do you know Nicky? She’s hot.”)

“Maná does not work with racists,” said a statement posted in Spanish on Maná’s social media. “For the past thirty years, Maná has supported and defended the rights of Latinos around the world. There is no activity or promotion more valuable than the dignity of our people.”

Both presidential campaigns have courted Latino voters.

Harris will also campaign in Northern Nevada on Thursday local media reports. Further details about that rally are also not yet available.

A flood of surrogates is also expected in the final step towards Election Day. This also includes Second Gentleman Doug Emhoffwhich will be in Southern Nevada on Monday and Tuesday.

The last day for in-person voting is Friday, November 1. Election day is Tuesday, November 5.