Diane Brown was trembling as she waited to cast her early vote at the Galleria at Sunset in Henderson on Saturday morning. 

The 58-year-old school teacher said she has been obsessively reading about the election for months. For her, widespread misinformation and the rolling back of reproductive rights has her worried about the future of the country — especially its implications for her younger students. 

With that in mind, Brown said that couldn’t sit back and wait to vote.

“My conscience is wearing very heavy on me,” Brown said. 

Like Brown, each of the 10 people The Nevada Independent interviewed — whether Democrat or Republican — expressed that this was the most important election of their lifetimes and that early voting was a way to ensure that their vote was counted in time. As the presidential race reaches its final stretch, Nevada remains a toss-up with former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris remaining neck and neck, according to most polling.

Despite the competitiveness of the race, most voters The Indy spoke to were shocked by the turnout. As polls opened, the line at the Galleria mall ran down its entire length, even wrapping around one of the front entrances. Election officials said that more than 300 people voted within the first hour after polls opened at the location. 

Simba Mozarewa, who has voted early at the mall for years, said that he had never seen turnout like this. 

“Honestly, I'm surprised there's actually a line,” the 34-year-old prosecutor said. 

While the presidential election remained top of mind, Mozarewa said he was also keeping an eye on the local races — especially the judicial, Senate and House races. For him, it’s integral that candidates with similar platforms are elected to create a “cohesive” and “functioning” government that is actually able to pass an agenda. 

This year, however, Mozarewa is not as interested in specific policy issues: Democracy is the top issue for him. 

“Voting is one of the most central rights, and I would like to protect that,” he said. 

Donald Okami, a 49-year-old policeman, and his wife, who declined to give her name, said he was concerned  about voter fraud, especially after the 2020 presidential election, which they said was stolen. (Officials in Nevada and nationally have said there is no evidence of fraud so widespread that it could have altered the outcome of the 2020 election.)

The couple came out to vote early partly as a preventive measure to ensure their votes were actually counted. Okami said that in the past, the pair were low-propensity voters, and they want a president that puts “America first.”

The Okamis said they were cognizant of the ballot issues this year — many which they said go against their core values as Christians — and were definitely against Ballot Question 6, which proposes enshrining the right to an abortion in the state Constitution, although the procedure remains legal in Nevada through 24 weeks of pregnancy through state law. 

“The stakes are the highest they’ve ever been,” Okami said. “Look at what’s happening. The next step is either all-out war or peace.”

Northern Nevada rallies

Progressives and conservatives held get-out-the-vote events in Northern Nevada, encouraging supporters to cast, mail, or drop off ballots as soon as possible.

At an afternoon rally in Carson City for Trump, Washoe County Republican Party chairman Bruce Parks encouraged a small crowd of supporters to “harvest ballots” for their family, friends, neighbors and fellow Trump supporters. Collecting ballots for others is a legal practice that, until recently, was decried by many in the GOP.

In downtown Reno, the day started with a Women’s March featuring supporters carrying signs for the Democratic ticket. Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), have made women’s health care and abortion rights a campaign cornerstone.

After the march — which saw more than 500 attendees walking up Virginia Street from the Federal Building to City Plaza — many participants went to the nearby Downtown Reno Library to vote. Lines across the region ranged widely. Wait times at most polling sites were a few minutes, but, at times, libraries in Northwest Reno, South Reno and North Valleys were more than an hour long.