With early voting underway ahead of Election Day, preliminary results have glaring warning signs for Republicans.
Gregg Re, at Fox News, reports:
More than 4.3 million Americans have already voted, and results posted over the weekend by Nevada’s secretary of state indicate a strong Democratic showing across the board in that state. In Washoe County, where Reno is located and where Republicans hold an edge in voter registration (99,675 to 94,520), 3,409 Democrats voted in-person compared with 2,365 Republicans on Saturday.
And on Sunday, when many polling places and businesses in urban areas are closed, 1,927 Democrats cast ballots in-person in Washoe County, compared with 1,483 Republicans. Taking into account mail-in votes after two days, Democrats have a roughly 6 percentage-point, 600-vote lead there, despite Republicans’ built-in registration advantage.
“That never happens in Washoe,” wrote Jon Ralston, the editor of The Nevada Independent, who has called Washoe the “swing county” in Nevada. He noted that in 2014, the GOP had a double-digit lead in Washoe County after two days of early voting. (The results do not indicate which candidates or political party actually received the votes, but analysts say it’s common for more partisan voters to cast their ballots early.)
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“More people usually vote in the second week than the first, and trends do not reverse,” Ralston told Fox News, cautioning that only two days of data are in and no trends have been established yet. “But this is not a usual year. … We will know more in two or three days.”
By one indicator, President Trump’s ability to propel Republican candidates to victory appears diminished. The president held a massive rally in conservative Elko County, Nevada on Saturday. Despite urging the 8,000 attendees to vote as soon as possible – only 435 people voted in Elko County that day, 104 Democrats and 250 Republicans.