KEY QUOTE:  [Nevada Democratic Party Executive Director Alana] Mounce said the DNC has been an “incredible partner” through the recalls and in the party’s voter registration work, supporting them with a six-figure investment.

“They’ve been really helpful in growing our efforts and getting our coordinated campaign really humming at a higher level,” Mounce said.

The Nevada Independent: With an eye on the successes of 2016, Nevada's Democratic machine gears up in hope of another blue wave

By Megan Messerly

June 10, 2018

It’s just a couple of minutes before 6 o’clock on a recent June evening, the shadows just beginning to grow long on the pavement and still 99 degrees outside, and 18-year-old Kyle Catarata is on a mission.

The recent high school graduate, dressed neatly in a floral, long-sleeved button down shirt and slacks, paces up and down the aisles of cars in the parking lot of the Smith’s at Decatur and Desert Inn, clipboard in hand. It’s his first week of freedom and, instead of doing whatever your average graduate might be doing with his or her newfound adulthood, Catarata has decided to spend it registering voters with the Nevada State Democratic Party.

And the party needs — and wants — all the help it can get ahead of the 2018 election. Its strategy is simple, and one it has relied on for years as the vaunted Reid machine: Activate volunteers, old and new; use those volunteers to build a longer voter registration list than the Republicans; and then turn out that list, in addition to trying to persuade some of the voters in the middle.

“It’s very simple, but it really doesn’t need to be more complex than that,” said Alana Mounce, the party’s executive director.

Catarata is one of those newly activated volunteers. He approaches a group in the parking lot.

“Are you guys registered to vote by chance?”

Yes, they say, and walk away.

“Good evening, sir, are you registered to vote by chance?”

Another yes.

The field organizer he’s working with, Jose Monsivais, is having about the same luck. He approaches one man, who tells him that he’s already registered to vote but thanks him for the work he’s doing. He spies a family loading into their car and switches to Spanish to speak with them, but they demur, too.

“It’s tough out here, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” says Catarata, a smile on his face and seemingly not at all discouraged.

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