Joe Gloria, the Clark County Registrar of Voters, responds to a question from a reporter during a news conference at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022.
Published Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022 | 1:47 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022 | 10:08 p.m.
It may be next week before the winners of some Nevada elections are determined, as a large number of mail-in ballots are still being counted, election officials said.
Clark County Election Department Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said Wednesday it could take up to another week to tabulate all the votes.
So far, 593,290 ballots have been received at the Election Department. That number would represent a turnout of 45.3% of registered voters, with thousands of mail-in ballots still coming in. Turnout is on pace to surpass the 2018 midterms, in which 619,030 voters participated — a turnout of 59.8%. This year’s turnout could rival the 2020 presidential election in which 974,192 Clark County voters cast ballots for a turnout of 75.7%.
“I think the turnout was good for a midterm,” Gloria said, noting that 144,000 ballots were cast in Clark County on Tuesday alone. “The dynamics are so much different now that we have mail ballots going to all voters. So we just need some time.”
Clark County officials said about 56,900 mail ballots were deposited in drop boxes at the county’s voting centers on Election Day. The county received another 12,700 ballots by mail Wednesday.
Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day must be received by Saturday to be counted.
“Every piece of equipment that we have to process mail will be in use, and we’ll have the staff there to staff all of the equipment,” Gloria said.
The county will have daily briefings to provide count updates.
Gloria said there were a “considerable” number of ballots dropped off Tuesday, but he didn’t estimate how many.
In 2020, when Joe Biden topped Republican incumbent President Donald Trump by roughly 34,000 votes in Nevada, it took officials here days to declare a winner.
Earlier in 2020, state lawmakers passed legislation to allow for universal mail-in voting, with every registered voter receiving a mail ballot by default.
The measure was passed initially as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic but was signed into law for all future elections in 2021.
With roughly 85%% of the state’s vote tallied as of Wednesday night, Republicans held a slight edge for most statewide executive offices, including the governor’s race where Joe Lombardo was leading incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Sisiolak by about 34,000 votes, or a 3.9% margin as of around 9:30 p.m.
Republican Adam Laxalt held a narrower lead over Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of about 15,800 votes, or 1.8%. Clark County released the results from 14,092 mail ballots about 6:15 p.m. showing Cortez Masto gaining 9,158 votes. At the 2-to-1 pace with mail ballots — a method used more by Democratic voters in blue-heavy Clark County — Cortez Masto could pull out a narrow win.
Laxalt doesn't buy into that narrative, posting on Twitter that "of the 84,000 votes left to count in Clark County, Cortez Masto could win 63% of them and she would still lose. That doesn’t even take into account the gains we will make from rural counties."
All three of the Las Vegas valley area’s incumbent Democratic U.S. Representatives — Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford — held slight leads over their Republican challengers.
Rep. Mark Amodei, a Republican representing Northern Nevada, was on target to earn a sixth term after he was outpolling Democrat Elizabeth Krause by about 66,000 votes with 70% of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press.
Gloria said there were a number of mail-in ballots in Clark County that needed to be “cured,” meaning they were missing signatures or other information requiring officials to contact the voter.
The state has until Monday to finish curing ballots, which can be done via phone, email, text or mail, Gloria said.
Some 5,555 provisional ballots in which a voter’s eligibility must be verified have been received and will be counted last, Gloria said.
Gloria said he was unsure how many ballots remained outstanding., i.e., sitting in a post office and waiting to be delivered. Clark County, Nevada’s most populous with about 75% of the state’s population, tends to vote overwhelmingly Democratic, and Democrats are more inclined to vote by mail than their Republican counterparts.
A final canvass of the vote is scheduled for Nov. 18 at the Clark County Government Center near downtown Las Vegas.
