Kristin Harrell, the city clerk operations manager for Henderson, oversees all the elections in the city — including Kids Vote 2024, an election (held Tuesday, concurrent with the presidential preference primary) to determine the best ice cream flavor out of a pool of eight candidates: bubblegum, chocolate, chocolate chip, cookie dough, cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, rocky road, and vanilla. The purpose: Introduce kids to the election process. Voting was only open to kids under 18.
Is this the first year for the ice cream election?
Yes. We wanted kids to vote on something, and we needed something that could be narrowed down because we wanted it to flow through the entire election cycle. [The four top vote-getters will run off in a June primary.] The final two will be up for the presidential election in November. And we are going to post our election results on our website the day after the election.
Are the flavors party-affiliated?
They are not, they're all nonpartisan. In Nevada we have closed primaries, which means that only the Republican- or Democrat-affiliated candidates are actually on the ballot. So unfortunately that's hard to replicate with ice cream. In Nevada you won't see those independent and nonpartisan candidates until we actually get to the November election.
If you could vote, which ice cream would you vote for?
Well, I am nonpartisan, so none of my candidates are on this ballot. But if I had to write one in, it would probably be, like, a rainbow sherbet.
What do you hope that kids will take away from Kids Vote 2024?
I hope that it will get them excited about elections. We hear a lot that people don't care about elections, people aren't participating in elections. And I honestly think that it just requires education and excitement. And if we can get them started from a young age, I think that generation will continue to be involved in elections.
Note: Cookies and cream edged out vanilla for the top spot in the preferential primary — a major upset. The other two flavors moving on to the June primary: chocolate, and bubblegum.
➕ Hear about the secret history of ice cream in Las Vegas. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]
