LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- Early voting for the presidential primary in Nevada starts on Saturday, Jan. 27. The primary will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 6 with a caucus occurring two days later.
The question remains why does Nevada have both? It stems from a law the Nevada Legislature approved in 2021 that made presidential preference primaries possible. It was supposed to be a simpler way for the two parties to pick a candidate.
The Nevada Republican party did not go with the presidential primary format and will instead host and pay for a caucus on Feb. 8 to decide their candidate. There are only two names left on the caucus ballot, Donald trump and Texas Pastor Ryan Binkley. Nikki Haley filed for the Republican primary, meaning she won't be eligible to win any of Nevada's presidential delegates.
For Democrats, you will see all your options on the primary ballots because there is no caucus for them.
You may have received sample ballots in the mail that will show the different candidates who’ve registered for the primary. There will also be a "none of these candidates" option on the ballots.
If you’re not registered as a Democrat or a Republican, you will not be voting in the primary or caucus. If you would like to vote you can still register for either party and vote the day of at voting centers across the valley in the primary.
Lorena Portillo, the Registrar of Voters for Clark County explains the difference between the primary and the caucus.
"A caucus is something that the major political parties manage. We do not work together on that. We only conduct what voters are used to seeing in the elections. They have the option to vote by mail or in person on one of our voting machines,” she said. "If the candidate did not file for candidacy, they are of course not on the ballot so they are not on the ballot because they did not file for candidacy. The major political parties are in charge of their nominating process. We will for the general election receive those names from the different parties."
On Saturday, Jan. 27, Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and current Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris will be visiting the valley to entice voters to vote for their respective campaigns.
The primary is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6. There is early voting for the primary. That's Jan. 27 through Feb. 2. You can find voting center locations at this link.
The caucus is 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8. Voters have to go to their specific precinct, and show ID, and there is no same-day registration. Caucus locations can be found at this link.