Voting, primarily

Happy Saturday. So did you vote yet? A couple things took me out of town over the last two weeks, so I missed early voting in person. The last few years I’ve been mailing it in anyway, or dropping my ballot in a drop box. I’m thinking I might go old school and vote in person on Tuesday, just because I haven’t for a while.

If you haven’t voted yet, and if you’re thinking maybe you’ll skip it for whatever reason, I humbly ask that you consider this:

As I’ve noted  before, even though every year I help edit all the stories in the Nevada Current voter guide about races for judge or some other office way down the ballot, by the time I fill out my ballot I don’t remember who’s who. So I revisit the voter guide to help me decide who to vote for.

Odds are that you, too, don’t know who’s who among candidates running for offices way down the ballot. And if you’re not planning to vote, you might not care. 

While I don’t remember the names or specifics of a lot of those candidates right this minute (which, again, is why I’ll be consulting the Nevada Current’s primary voter guide today or tomorrow), I do remember that some down-ballot candidates are obviously qualified and sensible and probably deserve a chance to serve in public office. 

And this year, as every election year, a few candidates are nincompoops, or worse.

So even if races at the top of the ballot aren’t lighting you up for whatever reason, consider taking a look at your sample ballot anyway. As you go through it, have your computer or device handy and consult the Current’s voter guide and others too; a lot of journalists statewide have put a lot of effort into gathering information in the effort to help you make decisions about the election. 

You might decide you want to vote after all. 

Luckily for you, voting is easy in Nevada.

And voting isn’t just about who likes/dislikes Trump or whatever. It’s also about people in often low-profile but important jobs making day-to-day decisions that may never make the news but that can have consequences for you and your family and your community.

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Here is some of the work we published in Nevada Current this week we wouldn’t want you to miss:

Dana — NV Energy betting the house on data centers and Lombardo backs natural gas pipeline expansion for data centers

Michael — Not just a Las Vegas Strip problem: Trafficking happens at local casinos too, says advocate

Jen — Nevada signs water sharing agreement with Arizona, California

April — State economist on NV’s persistently high unemployment rate: It’s complicated

My column — Maybe NV’s presidential primary should be first —  but not for reasons NV Democratic leaders cite