Jokes, cheers on first day of voting in Southern Nevada

Paul Rodriguez may crack funny for a living, but he says he's "personally serious" in his mission to help push President Barack Obama out of office after one term.

"People ask me to tell them the funniest joke I know," the Mexican-born, American-raised actor and comedian said Saturday at an east Las Vegas rally to support Republican challenger Mitt Romney. "The funniest joke I know is Obama."

Yes, the gloves are off in this presidential prizefight, and Rodriguez helped kick off Nevada's two-week early voting period by telling a cheering, 125-person gathering of whites, Hispanics and a handful of Filipino-American World War II veterans that "freedom can only be achieved in this country by removing the sitting president and replacing him with Gov. Romney."

With that, many in the outdoor audience at the strip mall where Team Nevada Las Vegas' eastside office is located walked across Eastern Avenue to cast their ballots at the East Las Vegas Community Center, one of 26 valley sites open on the first day of early voting.

Meanwhile, only a few miles away at Cambridge Recreational Center on South Cambridge Street, members of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, Local 1107 were finishing their 500-member rally and preparing to storm the Boulevard Mall for en masse voting.

"Every vote counts for us," local union President Al Martinez said of re-electing Obama. "We want to make sure that all of our members who can, come out and vote. We've got all of our people fired up to come out and vote."

While most drove to the mall in their own vehicles, 27 union members who needed transportation took a union-provided bus.

Buoyed by the SEIU bloc dressed in purple T-shirts proclaiming "Fight for the 99%," the Boulevard Mall was one of the most active early voting sites Saturday.

Approximately 150 voters were in line when the early voting process began at 10 a.m., and it stayed at a pace of about 90 for most of the rest of the day.

"I was actually really surprised by the big turnout, especially when we opened," said Julie Barker, election operations supervisor for the Clark County Election Department. "But it's been very smooth. The comments I've heard is that people just wanted to get (voting) out of the way early."

Election department numbers back that up.

At the end of the first day of early voting Saturday, 33,182 had come out to vote, breaking the record of 25,105 voters set in 2008, when Obama was elected.

"It went very well. We had lines everywhere," said Larry Lomax, the Clark County registrar of voters.

"I would say early voters are happy voters, because they can leave if they want to but they choose to stay in line. I'm not aware of any disgruntled voters."

No irregularities were reported on the first day of early voting, Lomax said.

Early voting continues through Nov. 2 at 88 sites that will be open at various times during the two-week period.

Election Day is Nov. 6, when those who don't vote early can cast ballots at their assigned polling place.

For Sharon Barron, casting her ballot on the first day of early voting wasn't planned, but it just made sense to do it.

"The issue is I don't want to be pressured on Election Day Tuesday - or any other day - to squeeze in some time to get it done," she said. "I had time today, so I took care of it today on my own terms."

Back at the pro-Romney rally, 89-year-old Raymundo Castillo, a Filipino-American who served in World War II in the U.S. Army's 127th Infantry Division, smiled as Rodriguez spoke, mixing jokes about Obama with preaching to the choir about Romney.

"We need real change, not pocket change," the 57-year-old Rodriguez said to laughter.

Contact reporter Joe Hawk at
jhawk@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2912.