Early In-Person Voting Begins in Nevada, as Obama Fires up Democrats

Tony Chavez and his wife, Elizabeth, came to Cardenas Market in East Las Vegas on Saturday to get some bread, three dozens eggs and some ingredients to prepare tamales.

Apparently, Mr. Chavez did not anticipate that he would cross something else of his list. But when he saw some of the poll workers and signs indicating you can vote, well, why not?

It’s not so easy to respond to it, but Mr. Chavez, 38, has already made his choice: he has a large “I Voted” sticker on his black Las Vegas Raiders letterman jacket.

“I saw the signs and was like, ‘Is that the voting?’” he added. “That was followed by ‘Let me just do it right now.’”

Mr. Chavez, a cook, among others that voted at that particular polling station in Las Vegas on what was the first day of in – person early voting in the state of Nevada which ends on the 1 st of November, 2012.

He preferred not to state which candidate he voted for the incumbent president, nevertheless, he said that issues concerning the rights of migrants and those of women mattered to him and this choice “would impact my kids’ future”.

And yet, yet another voter, named James Still, was equally impressed with the usability aspect of the process. His wife, Jennifer, wore a shirt supporting Ms. Harris, and Mr. Still said they had both voted for her because “politicians shouldn’t dictate how women should conduct themselves.” As for Mr. Chavez and other interviewees, voting was one of the benefits of coming to the store.

Senator Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump are in a close race most especially for the six electoral votes in Nevada. Each of the candidates has campaigned in the state in recent days, and Mr. Trump is due to hold a campaign rally again in the state next Thursday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Voting outcomes demonstrate that the race in Nevada is close and it has been swarmed with canvassers, door-to-door; tens of millions of dollars in television advertisements, and an unending stream of political surrogates for both parties.

For Democrats across the country, Saturday ended with an appearance by the former president, Barack Obama, who has been traveling to the so-called battleground states to rally Democrats. He was in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday.

During a campaign rally at a high school gymnasium that was filled to capacity with 3,000 people and another 1,000 watching on a monitor in an adjacent room, as the Harris campaign detailed, Mr. Obama acknowledged the tough times that Nevadans are experiencing — how people are struggling, as he said, with high housing and consumer prices, and how that could make an alternative to Dems appealing.

That is why the increasing number of individuals are interested in changing something, I told the audience. “As to what I cannot comprehend is why anyone expected Donald Trump to upset the applecart in your favor.” He continued, “We don’t need a president who makes things worse just to make his politics healthier.”

David Cohen, a Democratic strategist who served as the Nevada state director for Mr. Obama’s 2008 primary campaign, said, “The campaign is probably thinking: ‘How do we interest people in voting enough to be relevant to their lives and reassure them that when they vote early the lines will not be long?’

“Having Barack Obama is probably the only way to do that,” Mr. Cohen concluded.

Earlier in the day, Nevada Republicans assembled near a polling station in Summerlin Nevada to debate the virtues of early voting.

“You have to drive all your friends out,” Michael McDonald, the chair of the Nevada Republican Party, said to about 50 people along side the state’s Republican nominee for Senate, Sam Brown, and other politicians. “Act like they owe you money. Get them out to vote.”

“We need to reclaim this country,” Mr. McDonald added, “not for Trump alone but for our candidates.” Still, it does no one any good if he is the only winner he evidently requires quite a bit of backing.

At an early voting site in northwest Las Vegas, Tom and Lori Johnson said they were both happy to vote for the Republican presidential candidate.

Mr. Johnson was kind enough to point out that on the Election Day in 2022, Washoe County experienced a blizzard of such intensity that was a rarity in the region. It was an example, he said, that anything could happen.

“I wanted to just make sure we got out and did our voting early,” he said, adding: “I’m just so glad we have a chance to move into a more positive direction and if we don’t go with the Trump side of it—meaning the Republican side – we are in big trouble.”

In front of an East Las Vegas field office for Democratic candidates, several Latino members of Congress, including Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Nanette Barragán of California were energized about two dozen voters and volunteers together with a mariachi band and a taco truck. The surrogates shared experiences on the time they had worked with Ms. Harris and how she would reshape the country. They also discussed the Mexicans that Mr.Trump criticized – Mexicans, more broadly immigrants in fact.

It was one of several events around the state — and another one is planned for Sunday in Reno with Gwen Walz, the wife of Ms. Harris’s Vice-Presidential partner, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and movie actress Jennifer Garner — to pump people up to vote.

As California’s first Latino senator after he was appointed to replace Ms. Harris in late 2021, Mr. Padilla addressed supporters in both Spanish and English, using humor to explain that he did not get lost on his way back to LA.

“You are going to get groceries anyway,” Mr. Padilla said, with a reminder that the nearest place where voters could cast their ballots was a market.

“You bring a friend, you bring a family, you bring a neighbor, you bring a co-worker ,” he said. “Basically, it’s necessary so that each voter who is eligible to vote should go out and vote.”