The Numbers are Finally In: Nevada GOP’s Epic GOTV Fail

(Chuck Muth) – The Republican Party likes to refer to itself as the party of Lincoln.  It holds “Lincoln Day” dinners all around the country every year honoring the late president.  Yet it consistently ignores Honest Abe’s political wisdom when it comes to winning elections…

“The whole state must be so well organized that every Whig (Republican) can be brought to the polls. … Make a perfect list of the voters and ascertain with certainty for whom they will vote. … Keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters and have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence. … On Election Day see that every (Republican) is brought to the polls.”

The leaders of the Nevada Republican Party either never read Lincoln’s advice or suck at implementing it. The party has now lost four election cycles in a row under the reign of current Chairman Michael McDonald.

“Organize”?  That appears to be a four-letter word to the GOP.  It couldn’t organize a two-car funeral.

“Perfect list of voters”?  Please.  Nevada’s voter lists are among some of the worst in the nation.  What has the Nevada GOP done to clean them up…other than complain about it?  Nothing I can see.

“Ascertain with certainty” who they’re voting for?  Obviously, you can’t do that by simply hanging a flyer or a door or dropping literature on the porch.  You have to actually TALK to them.

“Doubtful voters”?  That would mostly be the non-partisan, independent voters who now make up about a third of Nevada’s electorate.

Who talks to them on behalf of the GOP?  The same people talking “red meat” to the Republican base…which are messengers the independent voters have no confidence in.

“Bring” Republicans to the polls on Election Day (now election “month”)?  Hardly.

The party encourages Republicans to vote with mailers, robo-calls, text messages, and TV/radio ads (for which consultants earn a hefty commission).

Democrats, on the other hand, drive to the voters’ homes or offices, pick them up, and take them to the polls (or “harvest” their ballots).

Now, McDonald will argue that under his leadership the party has done all of those things.  He’ll boast of how many doors they knocked on, how much money they spent, how many people he hired, and how many volunteers were out there running his “machine.”

But the actual numbers don’t lie…and the numbers for Nevada’s 2022 general election are now in.

At the end of October, the week before Election Day, there were 548,517 active Republican voters registered statewide.

The newly released figures from the Secretary of State’s office show that 153,155 of those Republicans cast a mail-in ballot, 138,256 of them voted early, and 101,190 voted in-person on Election Day…for a total of 392,601 Republicans who turned out to vote.

Which means 155,916 Republican voters stayed home and did not vote…

…while Republican Adam Laxalt lost his U.S. Senate race by just 7,928 votes out of over a million cast.

Yes, there are other reasons Laxalt lost…none of which excuses the Nevada GOP for failing to see that every Republican was brought to the polls on Election Day.

But, but, but … says the party, consultants for losing candidates, and liberal blubber-blogger “Jonny Jihad” Ralston (who’s never been a candidate and has never managed a campaign) … Republicans turned out at a higher rate than Democrats, so the party’s get-out-the-vote effort was a huge success.

Hardly.

That’s like saying a baseball team in the playoffs that wins three games by 5-0 scores was a “success” over the other team that won four games by scores of 1-0 because the team cumulatively out-scored the opponent 15-4 even though they lost the series, 4 games to 3.

The simple fact is, even though Republicans turned out at a higher rate than the Democrats (which, by the way, is usual in non-presidential elections), the party still lost key races it could have and should have won if it had gotten just a fraction of the 155,916 non-voting Republicans to the polls.

In Laxalt’s case, just 7,928 of them.

It didn’t.

That’s failure no matter how you slice it.

If this was baseball, the manager would be fired after losing four successive seasons like the Nevada GOP just did.

But this is politics.  It’s Nevada.  And it’s the Republican Party – which never blows an opportunity to blow an opportunity.

So Manager Mike will remain in the dugout leading Team GOP into the 2024 presidential election cycle and running things the way he always has.

Remind me again what the definition of “insanity” is?

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Final numbers show GOP turnout in NV was 11% greater than Dems (71-60). So those GOP con men and candidates claiming it was poor GOP turnout that hurt them — not so.” – Liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston, 12/23/22

“I don’t understand much about politics…” – Liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston, 1/2/20

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views and blogs at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.