Voting trouble is again in the forefront of Mineral County as registered Republicans came out to caucus on Tuesday, March 23, only to be turned away.

Hosted by the County Republican Central Committee of Mineral County, Nevada, the presidential poll caucus opened the door’s of the Mineral County Convention Center at 5 p.m. Their advertisement in the Independent-News stated that they would be open from 5 to 8 p.m. or sooner if business is conducted. A handful of Republicans were turned away at the door at approximately 6:45 p.m.

One caucus worker stated, “You don’t expect us to stay all night.”

The turned away simply said, “No – but until at least 8 p.m. like advertised.”

The advertisement said, “Please plan on participating – each and every vote is important. If you can’t stay for the entire meeting at least come and vote.”

Chairman Cindy Nixon was distraught in hearing the news that some Mineral County GOP voters were turned away and told the Independent-News, “I am the chairman – therefore I will take full responsibility.”

“There are a few of you out there in Mineral County who were turned away from being given a ballot on which to cast your presidential preference choice,” Nixon said in a press release given to the Independent- News. “For this, I deeply apologize. I can do no more than that since it’s too late to cast a vote and tabulate it into the final results. However, since this caucus event is still somewhat new to all of us, including those of us trying to facilitate it, we have glitches. The major glitch on Feb. 23, here is Mineral County, was that the registration time for our caucus was not clearly defined, other than 5 to 8 p.m. We were trying to proceed with the business portion of the caucus and it was impossible to do with so many coming through the door to register past 6:30 p.m. Business was taken care of and then it was time to count the ballots of those who elected not to vote and go. When the arrival of attendees slowed down for a time, we assumed we could move on with the business of the evening and closed registration.”

Mineral County was not the only county to experience difficulties on the night of Feb. 23. Complaints of multiple ballots being cast by a single person and other polls in Clark County running out of ballots, was reported.

Nixon did state that she was pleased with the many people who came out to caucus. The numbers were surprisingly high compared to past caucus turnout.

Upset by the events, Nixon offered this in closing, “Again, my apology and I invite those of you who missed your opportunity to participate in the casting of a ballot to attend our upcoming Republican County Convention, date to be determined. We have many ideas on how to perfect this caucus procedure and welcome your input.”

A call into the State Republican Party Headquarters in Las Vegas was not returned.

FILING PERIOD BEGINS FOR 2016 PRIMARY ELECTION

Mineral County residents may begin to file for offices in the 2016 primary election. Filing begins Monday, March 7 and ends Friday, March 18.

Federal offices to be considered are: United States Senator and United States Representative in Congress (District 4).

Nevada statewide offices: State Assembly (District 32), University of Regents (District 9) and State Board of Education (District 4).

Local officers are: Partisan offices – Clerk-Treasurer; County Commissioner (Seat A) and County Commissioner (Seat B). Non-Partisan offices are: Hospital Board Trustee; School Board Trustee (resides at county seat and does not reside at county seat); School Board Trustee (At Large); Television District No. 1 Board Member and Walker Lake General Improvement District (GID) board member.

Filing is done at the clerk’s office at the Mineral County Courthouse.