In 2008, The Record-Courier predicted that unaffiliated voters would become the second most popular choice in Douglas County.
It took another 14 years before that became the case, but it has finally occurred.
With more than 20,000 Republicans living in Douglas County, they don’t have much to worry about anytime soon as far as local races go.
However, statewide there are slightly more nonpartisan voters than Republicans as of Nov. 1, according to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office.
That’s fairly irrelevant when it comes to the general election, but it does mean Democrats and Republicans are deciding which candidates are going to be on the ballot through the closed primary.
It’s possible that the numbers reflect where people who registered through the DMV failed to check the box with a political party, but there’s also the possibility that a good majority of nearly a third of Nevada’s voters are done with the concept.
It may also explain the success of Question 3 seeking to open the primaries and shift to a ranking system for the general.
That question won’t be answered for another two years when it goes back on the ballot for a second time and wouldn’t see implementation until the 2026 Election if it were successful.
In the meantime, we shouldn’t be surprised to see a mixed bag of results, such as this year’s.
That means unaffiliated voters will be passing judgment on the major party candidates running in statewide elections.
That might be a motivation for the party’s to perhaps skew a tad more toward the center in selecting candidates, but then again, maybe it won’t make any difference.
Pollsters are already fanning out in an effort to give the results some context.
We’re just glad the airwaves have finally cleared out the political advertisements for a while.
