Tribune/Nathan Orme - Sparks resident Robert Arneson casts his vote for the primary election on Friday at the Washoe County administration complex. Early voting ended Friday, but County Registrar of Voters Dan Burke expects 43,000 people to vote in the primary election, which is about 20 percent of registered voters.
In Washoe County, more than 20,000 voters are expected at the polls on Tuesday with many more voting early and by absentee ballot, said Washoe County Registrar of Voters Dan Burke. In all, Burke expects 43,000 people, or 20 percent of registered voters, to vote in the primary election — a number that is higher than a dwindling statewide average.
As these people hit the polls Tuesday, Burke has several tips to make the process a smooth one.
“The fastest way to do it is to bring their sample ballot,” Burke said. “Premark your choices. There is also a bar code on the very back page of their sample ballot (the newsprint version). We can scan that when they step up to the intake station. If they really want to speed it up for themselves and everybody else, bring the sample ballot and particularly the last page.”
When primary voters step up to cast their ballots, their first hurdle will be a poll worker behind an intake table where the voter will be asked for their name and to confirm their address and party affiliation.
“That is in the primary only, not in the general,” Burke said of voters being asked their party affiliation when voting. “A lot of people get a burr in their saddle when we ask them that.”
The voter will then proceed to another table where they will be asked the same questions, but this time they will be given a printed sticker. A third roster table will take the printed sticker and exchange it for a card that the voter will then take to the polling machine.
According to Burke, these staffing levels may change in November for the General Election.
“We won’t really know the full impact until we get to Election Day, Burke said. “After the primaries we will find out if this approach is designed to be faster for the employee at a lower cost for the county.”
While voting procedures will remain relatively the same, sample ballot distribution will not.
Voters should have received a one-size-fits-all sample ballot for the primary election with a paper insert describing their area and party’s particular races.
“We saved the county about $250,000 just by changing the way we do the sample ballots,” Burke said. In addition,the county will order absentee ballots just as they are requested by voters and an outsourced production company will mail the ballot immediately after receiving the request from the registrar’s office.
“We used to print 159,000 (absentee ballots) for each election and we would use around 29,000,” Burke said. “No matter how much we sharpened our pencils, we just couldn’t make it work.”
The cost-cutting measure is expected to save the county $48,000.
“We have come up with some good ways to save money,” Burke said. “It should be a little faster for them on Election Day as well. We have tried to change our Election Day processes to be much more like what we do for early voting.”
Currently, Washoe County has about 215,000 registered voters, Burke said. Of those, more than 20,000 have already voted early in the primary election.
By the end of early voting, which was Friday, Burke expected the grand total to reach beyond 24,000. Burke is also expecting between 6,000 and 7,000 absentee ballots for the primary election, bringing the expected total turnout in Washoe County to more than 40,000.
While early voting numbers are down statewide, Washoe County is higher than usual.
“We are definitely higher,” Burke said.
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