Read this story in Spanish
For election updates and race calls, check out our live blog here.
More than 60,000 mail-in ballots in battleground Washoe County and at least 84,000 ballots in Democratic-leaning Clark County remain uncounted about 18 hours after polls closed, leaving the Senate and Nevada gubernatorial race too close to call.
In Clark County, the number of uncounted mail-in ballots includes approximately 56,900 mail-in ballots dropped into ballot boxes on Election Day (a number disclosed Wednesday evening) and approximately 27,000 additional mail-in ballots received Monday and Tuesday that Registrar Joe Gloria said the county was processing on Wednesday. .
That includes more than 14,700 ballots cast on Monday and picked up by the US Postal Service on Tuesday. He said the results of those polls would be added to the tally later that evening. Gloria also said the Postal Service picked up another 12,700 ballots on Wednesday and the Postal Service would continue to deliver ballots through the statutory deadline Saturday.
In Washoe County, ballots that have yet to be counted include more than 18,000 mail-in ballots received on Election Day through the Postal Service and ballot boxes, as well as approximately 39,000 ballots mail-in ballots received by Monday, the day before election day. , and about 4,000 mail-in ballots received from the Postal Service on Wednesday.
Both parties have been watching mail counts closely, amid expectations that ballots not yet counted could favor Democratic candidates in key races. Democrats up and down the ticket held leads in early mail counts and early ballots, and it was late counted mail that contributed to Nevada’s 2020 election “red mirage”, in in which Democrats ultimately won competitive races after trailing on Election Day. .
After strong in-person numbers on Election Day this cycle, Republicans have passed Democrats overnight in some competitive races, including contests for the U.S. Senate, where Republican Adam Laxalt is leading Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of 2.7 percentage points (22,595 votes), and Governor, where Republican Joe Lombardo leads Governor Steve Sisolak by 4.7 points (39,712 votes).
Clark County Mail Processing
As Clark County receives and counts mail-in ballots, another factor that could affect the vote count is verification of signatures. If a signature is missing or does not appear to match the registration records, the ballot must be “processed”. So far, 9,579 ballots have entered the healing process, Gloria said, and of those, 5,396 people have yet to heal their ballots.
Monday is the last day for voters to process their ballots if they have been flagged for signature verification. Gloria said voters who have received a notification from the county that their ballot needs to be attended to should call a helpline number (702-455-6552) for assistance.
The county will provide the hotline number Saturday and Sunday “to give members of the general public as many opportunities as possible to heal their vote,” Gloria said.
“This number will continue to grow until we finish processing mail-in ballots,” he added.
Nevada’s Democratic victory set up a voluntary action to contact voters who need their signatures taken care of.
As for the 5,555 provisional ballots that arrived during the early voting period and on Election Day, these cannot be counted until the county receives a report from the Secretary of State’s office, which Gloria says won’t arrive “until next Tuesday at the earliest.” , Wednesday at the latest.
Provisional ballots are cast when there is a question about a voter’s eligibility, such as if a person’s name does not appear on a registration list or when verification is needed to register them the same day.
Clark County election officials plan to hold daily press briefings to give new information and update results, although a time has not been determined. Gloria declined to estimate how many mail-in ballots could arrive through the Postal Service over the next few days, saying there was “no way” to tell.
“I have an election, the generals of 2020 [election] to compare it,” Gloria said. “It was a presidential election. It’s a mid-term. So I have no comparison.
Washoe County Mail Processing
In Washoe County, election officials said Tuesday that a high volume of mail-in ballots will delay the counting of all those results. The Reno-area county received more than 18,500 mail-in ballots on Election Day. There are approximately 61,000 ballots for which the results have not yet been communicated. This number does not include mail-in ballots that will continue to arrive after Election Day.
On Sunday, mail-in ballots accounted for 60% of turnout in the county, with in-person voting accounting for the remaining 40%. Acting Washoe County Registrar Jamie Rodriguez said the county received more mail-in ballots than expected, including about 4,000 Postal Service ballots Wednesday morning. She noted that the county is still processing those ballots, along with others that are still coming in.
Although the county may release charts Wednesday night, Rodriguez warned that the next significant drop in ballot totals will likely occur later this week. She estimated that officials will be able to count the majority of mail-in ballots by the end of the day on Friday.
Part of the delay also stems from the need to correct errors such as damaged ballots, ballots filled out or written in colored ink and mismatched signatures.
“Please be patient,” Rodriguez said. “We don’t want to do it quickly, we want to do it right. It is extremely important that we are transparent in how we do this. Every ballot must be treated the same.. so the results can be accurate.
Mail-in ballots postmarked on Election Day and received by election officials within four days of the election count towards election results. The last day for county election officials to receive and count absentee ballots is Saturday, November 12. Voters have until Monday, November 14 to resolve any signature issues on their mail-in ballots.
All recounts must be completed 10 days after the election, or before November 18.
Update: 09/11/22 at 4:45 p.m. – This story has been updated to include new details on the specific number of mail-in ballots cast in drop boxes in Clark County on Election Day, following the announcement of those numbers Wednesday night. .
#Clark #Washoe #counties #processing #tens #thousands #mailin #ballots #swing #election #Nevada #Independent