On Nov. 5, Reno resident Alara Plaskon will be voting for the first time.
“I’m really excited,” she told KUNR in a recent interview.
Plaskon pre-registered to vote over the summer, while she was still 17. She assumed her application went through, but unbeknownst to her, the Nevada Secretary of State’s office had flagged it over an issue with her address.
That could have caused Plaskon to miss her first opportunity to cast a ballot, if her dad hadn’t double-checked her registration status online.
“I would have been sad,” she said. “I wouldn't have thought of myself as an American citizen.”
Plaskon doesn’t have a state-issued ID yet, so she also would have been blocked from registering to vote on Election Day.
As soon as Plaskon learned her registration was on hold, she went to the Washoe County Registrar of Voters office. The staff there were able to get her registered on the spot.
Other community members have told KUNR their registrations were delayed, too.
Elections staff confirmed that some applications from September were held up while they were busy implementing a new statewide registration system. But as of this week, they say all pending applications have been processed.
