Hispanic Early Voter Turnout in Nevada Could Bode Well for Clinton

Latino voters could decide the election.

Eight years ago, 260,263 Latino voters cast their ballot early in Florida, according to CNN.

In the most recent CNN/ORC poll this week, Florida appears to be a tight contest, with Clinton at 49% among likely voters while Trump is at 47%.

Jon Ralston, a KNTV political analyst who has covered politics in the battleground state for more than three decades, published an analysis of Nevada’s early voting Friday.

Florida Cuban Americans prefer Trump to Clinton by 49-42 percent.

Latinos represent 16 per cent of Florida’s registered voters, while African Americans make up 13 per cent, and their vote is crucial in these Florida elections, where surveys point to the Democrat having a minimal lead, EFE news added.

“And keep in mind, because Hispanic is a self-identifying marker, studies have found that the real Hispanic vote is larger than the registration”.

Turnout by Latinos, experts predict, could have far reaching implications for future elections in locations where Hispanics have not traditionally been a concern for Republicans.

Despite the surge in early voting, there is no certainty about which candidate people chose for president.

Latinos are one of the largest growing minority groups, yet historically they’ve had lower voter turnout compared to everyone else.

Speeding the shift now is the anti-immigration rhetoric of Donald Trump – talk of walls and criminality is testing the loyalty of even the most ardent Latino voters. “We strongly believe here this will be the highest voter turnout election we’ve ever had”. All of these factors mean the election could depend on Hispanic voters, says Eduardo Gamarra.

Clark County is home to Las Vegas and is one of the few Democratic-leaning counties in the state.

Marissa Desilets, a young woman living in Beverly Hills, Calif., wants the Latino vote to break Trump’s way for other reasons – because “we have to get rid of the Affordable Care Act and create a health care program following free market principles”. The population is highly transient and since 68 percent of votes come from Clark City County, getting the county wrong can ruin entire polls, as Mr. Mellman points out. The Latino vote there helped catapult the Democratic lead by 72,000 votes. “With five days to go, registered Republicans also lead Democrats in early voting in Arizona, while Democrats are also ahead in Colorado and Iowa”. Among Latino voters on the last three voting days, the coalition had conversations with 14 percent of them after October 15, according to the group’s data.

Swing states like Florida, Nevada and North Carolina as well as states like Texas are reporting upswings in early voting among Latinos. “Tuesday is our day in this state”. But Conway said “we trust the savviness and the brilliance of the Clinton campaign” in spending time and resources there, noting that Clinton and her husband are both stopping in the state in the waning hours of the campaign.