Voting problem at a minimum despite contentious campaigns

Despite the tumult of this campaign season, top election officials in Nevada said elections ran smoothly in the Silver State.

“There were no major issues across the state,” said Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo echoed his remarks at a joint late-night news conference at the Clark County election warehouse where ballots were being counted. When asked by a reporter if there had been any arrests at polling places or harassment of poll workers, Portillo repeated there had been no major incidents.

The news conference took place at 10:15 p.m., after all polls had closed across the state and early results had been released.

Though the election generally ran smoothly, long lines at some polling places delayed the release of early results. There also were complaints about belligerent voters.

“I think this election has run very smoothly in a politically charged – and arguably politically toxic – environment,” said Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada. The civil rights organization dispatched 50 attorneys and hundreds more volunteers to voting sites across the state as observers.

“Nevadans have exercised their right to vote in a manner that is becoming to the state of Nevada,” he said.

ACLU observers expressed concerns about three-hour-long lines at the polls in rural Nye County. Early voting results can’t be released under state law before all voters in line by 7 p.m. have had a chance to cast their ballots.

Haseebullah also said there were hundreds of reports across the state about supporters of former President Donald Trump wearing Trump shirts or hats in polling places. Electioneering, including wearing campaign clothing and pins, is banned in polling places under state law.

In some instances, voters became belligerent and refused when they were asked to flip their shirts inside out, Haseebullah said. Poll workers were told, he said, that unless a voter was acting in an obstructive fashion, they should allow that person to vote.

“That’s not the plain letter of the law,” he said. “But I also understand from an efficiency standpoint why they’re doing that.”

Not all such incidents turned sour. At Allegiant Stadium, voter Anne Apodaca, 42, arrived to vote dressed head to toe in red, including a Make America Great Again cap. A poll worker asked her to remove it before coming in, explaining the law on electioneering. She did so, and told a reporter that the poll workers had been “very nice.”

Haseebullah said there were two reports of flag-waiving Trump supporters stopping cars as they entered the parking lot at a polling site in Mountain’s Edge, backing up traffic.

There also were reports of long lines in Clark County.

In the early evening, cars circled the parking lot of the Silverado Ranch Community Center looking for spots as a line of voters curved around the entrance to the polling site.

Jenna Lyttle, 27, and Hailey Lopez, 20, both said they were glad they chose to drop off their mail-in ballot, skipping the long waits.

“It’s actually peaceful so far,” Lopez said. “No sides are giving each other problems which I kind of like and was kind of surprised about.”

Lines when polls open

Lines of 100 or more voters formed at election sites across the Las Vegas Valley before polls opened with residents eager to cast ballots in the historic matchup between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump.

Before polls opened at 7 a.m., about 200 people had queued up at Silverado Ranch Community Center. Karalene Doyen, who got in line with her mother at 6:30 a.m. to avoid a long line, expected a stressful day awaiting results.

“Each candidate is going to act childish if they lose,” she said. “You have to have faith in your fellow humans to not act like children if their candidate doesn’t win.”

At Allegiant Stadium, more than 100 early birds were in line. Voter Andrew Aragon, who arrived at about 6:05 a.m., said he would be casting his ballot for Harris because of her policies on women’s rights, immigration and education.

Justin W. Wilson, a criminal defense and personal injury attorney, said he didn’t like Harris or Trump and would likely vote for Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver.

“Honestly, every choice we’ve got this year is just garbage,” he said.

For some voters, tensions ticked up. At Whitney Recreation Center, one woman in the long, long line outside the building incorrectly assumed a reporter taking notes in the parking lot was writing down license plate numbers. She complained to an election worker, who then questioned the reporter.

As the line thinned outside the Whitney Center, two Latino voters said they would vote for Trump.

“I really don’t pay attention to many issues,” said Carlos Alvarez, 21, a first-time voter. “But the cost of everything is too high.”

Daniel Martinez, 29, said Trump’s vocal support for the Christian faith made him stand out for many Latino voters, he said.

At the Blue Diamond Crossing shopping center, a line of about 150 people stretched from the door of the voting tent located in the parking lot. A DJ blared tunes in the parking lot as part of the DJs at the Polls initiative. Audible cheers were heard inside the tent, as first-time voters carried out their civic duty.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0336.

Review-Journal staff writers Mick Akers, Noble Brigham, Jessica Hill, McKenna Ross, Kevin Cannon, Alan Halaly, Jimmy Romo and Estelle Atkinson contributed to this report.