RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - Newcomers to Nevada may not fully understand “Nevada Day.”

Many confuse it with a recognition of Halloween.

“I must admit as a parent it was great to have Halloween off,” says Professor Fred Lokken, with the political science department at Truckee Meadows Community College. “That made it a much easier holiday.”

Lokken says soon after he arrived in Nevada, someone explained to him the holiday was in recognition of Nevada becoming a state not Halloween.

Back in 1864 Abraham Lincoln was concerned he might be in a tight presidential race and pushed the governor of the territory to make Nevada a state should he need the electoral vote.

“We were able to participate in that 1864 election,” Lokken says of the state electorate. “We made sure to fulfill the promise to Abraha

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