LAS VEGAS (AP) — Voting is underway across Nevada as the most diverse state so far has its say in the Democrats’ nomination fight. Bernie Sanders held the lead based on very early returns.
There were still questions about when final results from Saturday’s voting might be released under the complicated new caucus reporting process. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez wouldn’t commit to a timeline.
“Our goal is to get results as soon as possible,” Perez sad. “But also, first and foremost, to get it right.”
Undeterred by logistics, hundreds of uniformed housekeepers and casino workers streamed into the Bellagio, one of seven casino-resorts on the Las Vegas Strip among 200 locations statewide hosting caucuses. Nevada is the third contest on a 2020 election calendar marked by chaos and uncertainty after the opening votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, overwhelmingly white, rural states.
The first presidential contest in the West is testing the candidates’ strength with black and Latino voters for the first time in 2020.
“Nevada represents an opportunity for these candidates to demonstrate their appeal to a larger swath of our country,” said state Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat who is not endorsing a candidate.
Nevada’s population aligns more with the U.S. as a whole, compared with Iowa and New Hampshire: 29% Latino, 10% black and 9% Asian American and Pacific Islander.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has emerged as the front-runner in the race so far as a half-dozen more-moderate candidates criticize one another. Each wants to be the preferred alternative to the Vermont senator in the race to take on President Donald Trump in November.
In a show of confidence, Sanders left Nevada early to rally supporters in Texas, which offers one of the biggest delegate troves in just 10 days on Super Tuesday. The progressive senator told cheering supporters in El Paso that Trump is “a pathological liar running a corrupt administration.” He also called Trump “a religious bigot.”
The Nevada verdict represents the third in a primary season that will span all 50 states and several U.S. territories, ending only at the party’s national convention in July. But with two more rounds of voting scheduled over the next 10 days — including Super Tuesday’s massive delegate haul — the party may identify a consensus candidate long before the convention.
Sanders and his allies were increasingly confident about his strength in the race. In Nevada, he has strong support from Latinos and rank-and-file union workers who have warmed to his calls to transform the nation’s economy and political system to help the working class.
There was skepticism about Pete Buttigieg’s ability to win over a more diverse set of voters after strong finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire. Joe Biden, who struggled in those early states, looked to Nevada’s voters of color to prove he still has a viable path to the nomination.
Elizabeth Warren and Klobuchar were fighting for momentum, hoping to benefit from a sudden surge of outside money from newly created super PACs.
New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who dominated the political conversation this week after a poor debate-stage debut, wasn’t on the ballot. He’s betting everything on a series of delegate-rich states that begin voting next month.
Billionaire Tom Steyer spent more than $12 million of his own money on television advertising in Nevada, according to data obtained by The Associated Press.
The caucuses were the first since technical glitches and human errors plagued Iowa’s caucuses. Nearly three weeks later, state Democratic officials have yet to post final results.
Party Chairman Perez said a number of factors, including early voting and potentially high turnout, could affect the tabulation and timing of results. In addition, Nevada, like Iowa, reports three sets of data from the multistage caucus process.
On Friday, party leaders issued a memo clarifying that, while caucus leaders can still use an online form to submit results from individual precincts, they should use a dedicated hotline to call and text in results as their primary form of reporting.
In Iowa, overwhelmed phone lines caused caucus leaders to wait on hold for hours, contributing to the delay in reporting the results. Nevada Democrats brought in extra help from other state parties to help handle the reporting Saturday night.
Early voting is likely to pose another challenge.
State party officials said that 74,611 ballots were cast during the four-day early voting period, and a majority were first-time caucus-goers. In 2016, a total of 84,000 Nevada voters participated in the Democratic caucuses.
A small, but significant number of the ballots cast early were disqualified.
Of the early ballots cast, 1,744, or 2.3 percent, were voided. The vast majority were voided due to a lack of signature, according to the party. Of those that were voided, 250 ballots were voided for not filling out all three selections as required, the party said.
At the Bellagio caucus site, 41-year-old Christian Nielsen, a scuba diver for the Cirque du Soleil show “O,” said he’s backing Sanders because he believes the country needs a “major change in the White House.”
“We need somebody in the White House who has been on the right side of history for their entire career, somebody who stands with the working class, and will make things more fair for everybody,” Nielsen said.
He said he tried to vote early but the line was three hours long. He said the sign-in process at the Bellagio was quick and painless.
Peoples and Jaffe reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta, Ken Ritter and Nicholas Riccardi in Nevada and Brian Slodysko in Washington contributed to this report.
