A Weekend of Remembrance
Renew your own commitment to democracy by making a plan to vote.
On this Memorial Day Weekend, we honor those who lost their lives in service of the United States of America. This weekend also marks the unofficial start of summer, with many taking off for short vacations or just kicking back at home. Today’s Brief will accordingly be a short one, with just a few reminders and announcements.
The week ahead features a limited number of City meetings, including the Access Advisory Committee (5/28) and Human Rights Commission (5/30). Those agendas and materials can be accessed on the Current and Upcoming Meetings page here.
And of course, early voting has now begun for the 2024 Primary Elections.
Your Vote Matters!
Knowing that the turnout for primary elections is traditionally low, I looked up the past two primaries, and was struck to learn precisely how low it has been.
As reported in the 2020 Primary Election results for Washoe County, fewer than 40% of registered voters cast ballots for the three Reno City Council races then in play:
For the Ward 1 seat, a total of 12,207 votes were cast.
For the Ward 5 seat, a total of 10,381 votes were cast.
For the At-Large Council seat (the only one for which voting was citywide) 44,893 ballots were cast.
(There were only two candidates for Ward 3 that year, so they proceeded straight to the General Election.)
In the 2022 Primary Election, the results were similar for the Reno City Council races, with the turnout dipping below 20% of registered voters for one ward:
For the Ward 2 seat, 12,261 votes were cast.
For the Ward 4 seat, 5,364 votes were cast.
Even for Mayor, only 46,609 votes were cast.
Those totals don’t include what are known as “undervotes.” According to Nevada Revised Statutes, an “undervote” means “a ballot has been cast by a voter but shows no legally valid selection for any candidate for a particular office or for a ballot question.” The number of undervotes in Reno City Council races is often in the hundreds, sometimes over a thousand, for each race. That makes a big difference when margins are close, so it’s important to know how to fill out your ballot, and to vote for each race listed on it.
Reno’s six wards have been configured to include approximately 44,000 residents each. Let’s see what we can do to ensure that the turnout in each of them is as high as possible, and that all residents play an active role in selecting who will represent them on Reno City Council (and, of course, in all other elected positions).
How can you make sure your voice will be heard?
First of all, educate yourself about the candidates. The online version of my Election Guide to the Reno City Council Primary Elections can be found here.
Also, keep an eye out for opportunities to hear from candidates in public appearances throughout the community. For instance, the Reno-Sparks Tenants Union is hosting a candidates forum about housing issues tomorrow (Sunday, May 26) at 1 pm at the Downtown Washoe County Library at 301 S. Center Street. Candidates will be asked a number of prepared questions, with time allotted for questions from the audience.
Secondly, be sure to vote! To help ensure that all residents know how and where to cast their ballots, the Washoe County Registrar of Voters has posted a helpful FAQ page here that covers such questions as how to properly fill out, seal, and turn in a mail-in ballot and where you can vote in person.
And third, encourage all your fellow residents to vote, too!
That’s it for this weekend. Enjoy the weather, be safe, make a plan to vote, and please join me in remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country.
Be sure to check out my Citizen Guide for helpful resources and links for anyone hoping to become more informed and engaged in issues related to urban development (& more) in Reno.
As always, you can view this and prior newsletters on my Substack site, subscribe to receive each new edition in your email inbox, and follow the Brief (and contribute to the ongoing conversation) on X, Facebook & Instagram. If you feel inspired to support my writing and research with a financial contribution, you can sign up for a paid subscription through my Substack site or contribute to my Venmo account at @Dr-Alicia-Barber or via check to Alicia Barber at P.O. Box 11955, Reno, NV 89510. Thanks so much for reading, and have a great week.