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This one precinct in Las Vegas shows people waiting 3.5 hours for early voting

Democratic caucusgoers in Nevada stood in line for more than three hours at one early voting precinct Saturday, according to people at the front of the line.

The precinct — Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas — had six volunteers present as of 5 p.m., ET. One volunteer, who did not want to be identified, said, “We need more.”

In contrast to the problems experienced by the Iowa Democratic Party with an app used for calculating votes, the issue of long lines at this one precinct stems from large turnout, and not enough volunteers to process them.

Molly Forgey, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Democratic Party, said she was not aware of the long lines at this location, but the turnout was high in a lot of places and she had heard of a few other early voting stations that were busy. The NDP is addressing issues as they come up individually.

“If you’re in line by the closing time you’ll be able to vote but we’re also dispatching additional volunteers to help speed up wait times,” Forgey said.

Debbie Curtis, a teacher in the state, told CNN she hopes state party officials will “learn from this” ahead of state’s caucuses on February 22.

“I’ve seen people walk away. Hopefully they go someplace else to vote,” she said. “It’s just too important.”

The party, she contended, needs to realize “that this is huge and if they don’t do something that we could have another four years of Trump which ought to be frightening.”

One woman at another site in Henderson left before voting to try at another location.

“I’m going to go over to Sahara and Eastern to Cardenas,” said Sue Dickson, who said she was a Democratic party volunteer that supported Joe Biden. “My girlfriend said the line wasn’t long … I’m not giving up. No matter what.”

Another woman at Coronado High School in Henderson said she waited more than two hours to vote.

There are 80 locations open during the early voting period in the state, which started Saturday and runs through Tuesday. Not all locations are open all four days at all hours.

Following early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada remains a valuable Democratic prize with powerful labor groups and a political machine built by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Article Topic Follows: Politics

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