Bernie Sanders has won the Nevada Democratic Caucus, according to early numbers and projections by Decision Desk. This is the first caucus for the Democrats’ 2020 Presidential nominee since the still controversial Iowa caucus. Heavy is partnering with Decision Desk to bring you the live results of the Nevada caucus, along with updates on what’s happening today and into the night. Fox News called the race for Bernie Sanders with 4 percent of delegates reporting at about 5:30 p.m. Eastern. Then by 7:30 p.m. Eastern, NBC News was projecting Sanders to win too, and ABC News has also called the race for Sanders.
Decision Desk called the Nevada Caucus for Bernie Sanders as of 7:38 p.m. Eastern.
The first section of this story will have three sets of numbers from Decision Desk: first round of votes, second round, and the estimated county delegates, with a notation of the percentage reporting at the end. Scroll below that section to see Heavy’s updates about news related to the caucus, timestamped for when it was reported.
Nevada Democratic Caucus Results – Updated Live
Heavy has partnered with Decision Desk to show the live results of the Democratic caucus as they come in. Much like Iowa, there will be three sets of results. A first alignment, then a second alignment after people who voted for nonviable candidates can switch their votes, and then a county delegate estimate. The charts below will be updated live as more numbers come in.
The race has been called for Bernie Sanders by Decision Desk.
Go here if you don’t see a results table below.
Live Results: Democratic 1st Round
Live Results: Democratic 2nd Round
Live Results: Nevada Democratic County Convention Delegates
Above you will see the results of the first presidential preference vote, the second presidential preference vote, and the county delegate equivalents, which is the number from which a winner is typically declared.
Scroll down to the “Caucus Rules” section of this story below to learn more about what these numbers mean and when the votes are taken. Any candidate who does not receive 15 percent of the first vote is considered “non-viable,” and their supporters might choose to support a different candidate for the second vote.
Heavy will be providing live updates for the caucus below, with the most recent updates listed first.
7:38 p.m. Eastern: Decision Desk officially called the race for Bernie Sanders.
7:30 p.m. Eastern: NBC News is projecting Sanders to win.
NBC News has now projected Bernie Sanders the winner of the Nevada caucuses
7:06 p.m. Eastern: Biden has been in second in early results.
Cheers at the @JoeBiden watch party as CNN flashes graphic showing former VP in 2nd place. Results still very early.
Klobuchar is already giving her speech to her supporters for the night.
Amy Klobuchar is now at the podium in Minnesota. She says her campaign “exceeded expectations,” which seems pretty early, says reporter @davidsiders.
More live #NevadaCaucus analysis: t.co/1l6KLM5trl
Live results (now at 3% reporting):
7:00 p.m. Eastern: To help ensure there is capacity for reporting numbers, the Nevada Democratic Party gave their hotlines expanded capacity so precinct chairs could report numbers without encountering the issues seen in Iowa.
Party spox @MBForgey tells me they have “provided expanded capacity for the hotline to accommodate the influx of calls from precinct chairs.”
Even President Donald Trump weighed in on the results so far with a tweet.
Looks like Crazy Bernie is doing well in the Great State of Nevada. Biden & the rest look weak, & no way Mini Mike can restart his campaign after the worst debate performance in the history of Presidential Debates. Congratulations Bernie, & don’t let them take it away from you!
6:48 p.m. Eastern: New York Intelligencer noted that by 6:47 p.m. Eastern, few results were released yet. But the Nevada Democratic Party said caucuses are going well and we should have results soon.
6:01 p.m. Eastern: So far, Sanders is leading in county delegates by a wide margin of 54.8%, USA Today reported.
5:31 p.m. Eastern: Fox has already called the race for Bernie Sanders with 4 percent of precincts reporting.
With 4% of precincts reporting, Fox has called Nevada for Sanders
Sanders won a big precinct in Nevada for Las Vegas casino workers, USA Today reported. He won 76 of 121 votes, and Biden got 45 votes for second place.
5:16 p.m. Eastern: One precinct leader is texting a photo of her results because the hotline was busy. Nevada set up several backup methods for sending in results.
4:40 p.m Eastern: In another precinct, Sanders and Biden were the only viable candidates.
At another precinct (Washoe 6100 with 11 delegates) on the other side of the Sparks High gym, Sanders and Biden are the two viable candidates:
Biden 15
Buttigieg: 0
Klobuchar: 0
Sanders: 44
Steyer: 0
Warren: 0
In some precincts, volunteers drew cards to determine the results of near-delegate ties. Sanders lost a delegate to Buttigieg after the Sanders volunteer drew an Ace and the Buttigieg volunteer drew a three (some say it was a two, it can be a little tough to see). Nevada rules had designated that Aces were high, however.
4:14 p.m. Eastern: Sanders won by a landslide in a 39-person first-alignment in one precinct.
Bernie wins by a landslide in first alignment in this 39-person precinct
@JoeBiden – 1 + 3 EV = 4
@BernieSanders – 10 + 19 EV = 29
@ewarren – 2 + 1 EV = 3
@AndrewYang – 2
@amyklobuchar – 1
Then in another precinct, Sanders was not viable and Pete Buttigieg was being considered for the second choice, along with Tom Steyer. Only two candidates were viable in the first alignment in another precinct: Amy Klobuchar and Joe Biden.
. @BernieSanders camp unsure to which camp they will move to, since the Vermont senator is unviable for this group, deliberating, thinking of @PeteButtigieg as second-choice.
3:51 p.m. Eastern: Final alignment in one precinct after factoring in early voting:
@JoeBiden @BernieSanders @ewarren Final alignment:
Sanders: 31 total, 5 today, 26 early
Biden: 17 total, 4 today, 13 early
Warren: 16 total, 10 today, 6 early
In another precinct, Sanders also got a boost from early voting:
Final alignment:
0 Biden
3 Buttigieg
0 Klobuchar
55 Sanders
2 Steyer
33 Warren
Sanders and Warren are only viable candidates.
They get 9 and 6 delegates.
Bottom line: early voting final alignment gave a big boost to Sanders and Warren in this precinct.
3:35 p.m. Eastern: A Warren group at one precinct needed just one more person to become viable.
Warren group needs just 1 more to be viable. Here’s the groups pitch. #NevadaCaucus
3:34 p.m. Eastern: One person said using the Google form, which is the app of choice for the Nevada Caucus, was easy, but she was unfamiliar with using an iPad.
Rose counts off the caucusgoers in person. There are 24. She punches it into the iPad. “It recorded it all so that’s good,” she says, before pausing. “Does anybody know how to work an iPad?”
3:19 p.m. Eastern: About eight volunteers, on average, are at each caucus site.
NEW on volunteer turnout: Per party, their reports are showing an average of eight volunteers showed up to each caucus site, or about 2,000 volunteers across the state. And as of a half hour ago, more than 1,000 volunteers had already logged into the caucus calculator.
3:06 p.m. Eastern: At the Paris caucus site, the Klobuchar and Warren sections looked empty.
Look at the Paris caucus site right now. Biden section on the left; Sanders on the far right. Looks like Warren and Klobuchar chairs are empty for the moment. #NevadaCaucus
3:04 p.m. Eastern: The Democratic caucus is far too early to call, but Bernie Sanders leads in some early voting counts.
Entrance polls looked good for Sanders.
These entrance polls look very good for Bernie.
Saturday, 3 p.m. Eastern: Chris Barrett reported that Cheyenne High School in Las Vegas was not following the rules that said they could have as many observers as they wanted in the caucus room.
Cheyenne High School in N. Las Vegas rejected the rules that we can have as many observers who can fit in the caucus room. The Nevada Democrat site lead ignored the Bernie Sanders observers trying to sign in. #NevadaCaucus #NevadaForBernie
Saturday morning: There were some concerns about the caucus even before the caucus doors open. The day before, news about volunteers being asked to sign NDAs spread. The Nevada Independent reported that the Nevada State Democratic Party later said the NDAs were voluntary and not required.
Friday Night: There was already a large turnout of early voters before the official caucus even began. Leslie Paul Fynns shared a public post on Facebook saying that Bernie Sanders’ campaign told volunteers that there were already 75,000 early voters in Nevada, compared to the total caucus voters in 2016 of 80,000. Many of the early voters were first-time voters. So it looks like we’re in for a big turnout in this year’s Nevada caucus.
Caucus Rules
According to The Green Papers, anyone who will be at least 18 on November 3 is eligible to vote on February 22. They must be a registered Democrat to vote, but registration or party changes can happen on caucus day.
The Nevada caucuses will begin at 12 p.m. Pacific, with the doors opening at 10 a.m. So in other time zones, the caucuses begin at 2 p.m. Central/3 p.m. Eastern. Results could start coming in as early as an hour later, at 4 p.m. Eastern. But it will likely take longer than that. There are 2,099 precinct caucuses, even more than in Iowa, NBC News reported. Of these, there are 252 total sites, since some sites will host multiple caucuses.
Delegates will be awarded proportionally. Just like in Iowa, non-viable supporters can realign to another candidate during the second round of voting. Viability is determined by the precinct’s size. If a precinct has four or more delegates, then viability starts at 15 percent. It’s 16.6 percent for three delegates, 25 percent for two delegates, and 50 percent for precincts with just one delegate.
The numbers are counted for both rounds of voting. Because unviable candidates’ voters can move to different candidates for round two, it’s theoretically possible for whoever won the first round to not win the second round. From these votes, the state delegate equivalent is estimated.
When the caucuses close, we’ll get three official numbers from the NDP (Nevada Democratic Party):
- The results of the first vote (first Presidential Preference)
- The results of the second and final vote (second Presidential Preference)
- And the county convention delegate estimates (from which winners are typically declared)
Nevada has a total of 48 delegates, with 23 being allocated according to the caucus vote percentages. Then 13 delegates are allocated based on the State Convention delegates’ support, including eight at-large national convention delegates and five pledged PLEOs. So, 36 delegates are at stake today, not including the “superdelegates” in Nevada who aren’t based on caucus voting.
The Democratic National Convention will take place July 13-16. According to Ballotpedia, there will be 4,750 delegates total, including 3,979 pledged and 771 automatic (more commonly known as superdelegates.) In order to not have a contested convention, a candidate needs 1,991 pledged delegates on the first ballot. (Superdelegates aren’t allowed to vote on the first ballot.) If no candidate gets this majority of pledged delegates, then a second ballot (or more) will take place and both pledged and automatic delegates can vote this time. From then on, a candidate needs the majority of all delegates to win, which is more than 2,375 votes.
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