Clark County's top election official optimistic results will be released more quickly than in 2020

Counties in Nevada can begin processing and counting mail ballots beginning Monday. It’s one of several procedural changes that have been implemented by election officials in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the last presidential election, which left an impatient nation waiting on results from the Silver State for five days.

The race in Nevada, which abruptly switched to universal mail ballots in 2020 during the covid pandemic, was not called by media outlets until the Saturday after Election Day because of the close margins separating Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the significant numbers of mail ballots that had not been counted by the end of Election Day. Despite repeated reminders from election officials that mail ballots take longer to process because of the numerous steps involved, the seemingly slow pace of results on election night made Nevada the butt of jokes nationwide and, more problematically, added fuel to unfounded conspiracy theories about mass election fraud.

“We always hear (that) folks want to see things go faster, but what we really want is to keep the accuracy and integrity of the election while we provide efficiency,” said Lorena Portillo, the registrar of voters for Clark County. “I think we have found a happy medium and will be able to do that.”

One of the most significant changes to happen since 2020: State law now allows counties to begin processing and counting mail ballots 15 days prior to Election Day. This year that means Monday, Oct. 21.




https://nevadacurrent.com/2024/10/17/clark-countys-top-election-official-optimistic-results-will-be-released-more-quickly-than-in-2020/