Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria briefs reporters outside the Clark County Election Center Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020.
Published Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020 | 7:45 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020 | 11:30 p.m.
Swinging his hands forward, the exasperated man rushed in front of about a dozen cameras Wednesday afternoon and began to spout a baseless conspiracy that “the Biden crime family is stealing this election and the media is covering it up!”
The cameras were already there for Joe Gloria, the Clark County registrar of voters, who had news many impatient Americans didn’t want to hear: Nevada’s most populous county was still counting votes.
The announcement came as it was becoming increasingly obvious that Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s path to the White House could run through Nevada and its six electoral votes.
Results from Tuesday gave Biden a slim lead of about 8,000 votes here against President Donald Trump in a state that has chosen a Democrat in the past three presidential elections. But there was a large number of ballots still outstanding, with more results expected this morning, Gloria said. That tally would include an unknown number of mail-in ballots received Tuesday and Wednesday.
The fact that Nevada was the eye of the storm in the most contested presidential election in 20 years wasn’t obvious inside the spacious North Las Vegas warehouse, one of two locations where votes are being tallied for Clark County, and where the heckler confronted Gloria.
Rings and clacks echoed inside as easygoing Clark County staff members arranged voting equipment. In a corner, on the other side of a transparent wall, election workers were getting ready to count votes.
About 300 temporary and 38 full-time Clark County employees were working at two counting centers, Gloria said. They work in various shifts. The team is able to count up to 70,000 ballots a day.
“We are working feverishly to get all of that counted so that we can make an accurate report,” said Gloria, noting that new numbers wouldn’t be available until 10 a.m. Thursday, and continue daily until all votes are counted.
So far, Gloria said, Election Day and early votes had been counted while provisional ballots, electronic ballots from overseas, electronic ballots from disabled citizens and special ballots for new residents remained to be tallied.
The Associated Press declared Biden the winner of Michigan and Wisconsin’s electoral votes Wednesday afternoon, leaving him just six short of the 270 needed to be elected president. It seemed only fitting that Nevada, one of the areas hit hardest by the pandemic, could decide which leader will guide the country to recovery.
Counting also continued into Wednesday night in too-close-to-call Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, who was the first elected official in Nevada to endorse Biden in 2018, said she was excited at the possibility of Nevada delivering the winning electoral votes to the former vice president. “I think we’re in the catbird seat,” she said.
Titus, a Democrat whose district encompasses much of Las Vegas proper, won reelection handily against Joyce Bentley on election night as expected.
She is the only Southern Nevada congressional incumbent to have had her race called as Wednesday night, meaning Democratic Reps. Susie Lee and Steven Horsford, who represent the 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts, are also waiting for Thursday’s results dump to learn of their fate.
Lee leads challenger Dan Rodimer by about 5,000 votes. Horsford’s margin against Jim Marchant is about 7,000 votes.
“While we know everyone is anxious to get results, we will patiently wait for every vote to be counted. With the majority of votes in, we feel confident that Susie Lee will maintain her current lead, and is in a strong position to win reelection to Congress,” Lee’s campaign said in a statement.
Nearly 800,000 Clark County votes were counted by Wednesday, including about 337,000 mail-in ballots.
Thursday’s numbers will include mail-in ballots received the previous two days, Gloria said. From then, he will speak to the media every morning, including weekends, until the final vote is tallied.
Beginning Thursday, officials will reveal how many ballots have been counted, and how many are left to tally, Gloria said, noting that he wasn’t able to provide specific figures Wednesday.
Just as with the heckler who showed up to the news conference only to be escorted away for his outburst, public observers were welcomed to witness the vote-counting process, although some had been kicked out for not following the rules set when they signed in.
“They were consistently trying to interact with our workers, which disrupts their work,” said Gloria, not revealing how many people were removed. “They may have been rude or unprofessional with some of the colleagues who were observing, or they wouldn’t remain in the observation area.”
Each ballot first goes through an electronic signature check. When the scribble doesn’t match, it’s sent to a bipartisan audit team, in which a human can check it. Those that don’t make the cut are placed on a signature-curing list, which allows voters to correct them.
Eligible votes go through a bipartisan counting board that works to separate the ballot from the return envelope, making sure it’s not damaged.
The Associated Press and staff reporter John Sadler contributed to this story.
