The Nevada Independent is using this live blog to monitor key developments while polls remain open on Election Day. Check back for updates.

At Democratic watch party, attendees nervous, subdued

Toni Washington expressed nervousness about Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances as she watched returns from other states at a Democratic victory party at the Aria casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The presidential race was a “little too close” for her right now, she said. 

As a woman and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, the 59-year-old veteran feels that her rights may be rolled back if former President Donald Trump succeeds in his re-election bid. If Trump wins, Washington contends that the country could descend into “civil unrest.” 

“I think that Trump has made it too easy for those individuals to speak and say whatever they want and think that their thoughts have no repercussions,” Washington said. 

Other Democrats at the Aria were more optimistic about Harris’ chances. Spencer Ridenour, a 34-year-old bartender and member of Culinary Workers Union Local 226, said that he believes this election is reminiscent of the 2020 race and that Harris will soon make a comeback, especially when mail-in ballots are tabulated.  

“I believe in Kamala. I believe in Tim Walz. I believe in Nevada,” Ridenour said. 

– Bella Aldrete, 9:40 p.m., Las Vegas

Here’s what to expect when you’re expecting (Nevada results)

Though polls closed at 7 p.m., voters standing in line at that time will be allowed to vote as long as they remain in line. Nevada will begin posting Election Day results after the state’s last voter casts a ballot.

Once the last ballot is cast, initial vote totals should be released. These will include valid mail-in ballots received before Election Day and in-person early voting ballots. 

The next set of results will be from in-person Election Day voting as counties tabulate and send that information to Nevada’s Secretary of State’s Office.

Nevada counties will likely not tabulate the numerous ballots that were received by mail or dropbox on Tuesday until Wednesday. 

Washoe County Deputy Registrar of Voters Andrew McDonald estimated that there will be a large ballot drop from those in the coming days. He said the county has a goal of updating results hourly, but it takes time to verify the numbers, pull the report and upload it.

“It’s going to be a long night for getting those results and it will continue on in the days ahead,” McDonald said during a Tuesday press conference. 

After receiving physical ballots, counties need to sort them, verify signatures, organize them by individual precincts, extract and scan verified ballots and tabulate them. A ballot with stray marks will go through an adjudication process, where a bipartisan committee reviews it to determine voter intent. When that intent is established, the vote can continue to the tabulation process.

During signature verification, physical ballots with a missing or mismatched signature will be challenged and held for curing. During the curing process, voters are asked to confirm their identity. Once that is done, the ballot continues in the tabulation process.

Counties begin contacting voters who need to confirm their signatures as soon as they become aware of it.

Nevada law outlines that counties have until Nov. 9 to accept mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day, and voters have until Nov. 12 to cure their ballots. 

Provisional ballots are counted after officials verify a person’s registration information and that they have not voted twice in the same election. The last day a voter can provide identification or proof of residence for their provisional ballot in Nevada is Nov. 8.  That date is also the deadline for receiving and including mail ballots with indeterminate postmarks.

The various deadlines can delay unofficial calls by media and third-party data analysts for Nevada races until after the close of the signature curing period.

— Tabitha Mueller, 9:21 p.m. from Reno

Same-day registration slows down already long lines 

Well after 7 p.m., an overwhelming number of unregistered first-time voters were still crowding a conference room at UNR’s Joe Crowley Student Union, home to a campus polling site.

The number of same-day voter registrations, a major driver toward the 6,000 provisional ballots expected in Washoe County this cycle, is substantially more than election officials had planned for, said Jennifer de Jung, the site’s assistant manager.

“A ton is an understatement,” she said. 

It’s a function of same-day registration, a process implemented in Nevada in 2020 that allows people to register to vote at the polls and then immediately cast a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots are counted after officials verify a person’s registration information and that they have not voted twice in the same election. 

Each unregistered voter takes five to 10 minutes to process, de Jung said — if nothing goes wrong. In 2020, across the state, nearly 10,000 new voters who used the same-day process registered as Democrats, while nearly 12,000 registered as Republicans and more than 8,000 registered as nonpartisan or with a minor party. 

Mya Ballinger, the second-to-last person in line, was among the first-time voters who also needed to register on Election Day. She decided to vote at the urging of her roommate, and the two made it into line with just five minutes to spare before the doors closed. 

“I think it’s definitely worth it,” she said. “My opinion definitely matters.” 

Edward Calva, 20, was the last person in line. He ducked over to vote after getting out of class. 

“I wasn’t expecting it to be this long,” he said of the wait. 

Polling officials estimate all voters will have cast their ballots by about 9 p.m. 

Washoe County Deputy Registrar of Voters Andrew McDonald said Tuesday evening that the registrations at UNR account for many of the provisional ballots (or same-day registrations) the county will process in the coming days, calling the 4,000 figure submitted on Election Day alone “pretty high” for Washoe County.

“If you remember doing your homework in college, it’s last minute,” he said. “So [UNR’s] last-minute same-day registrations … and that’s their right to do that, but it does create long lines.”

— Amy Alonzo and Tabitha Mueller, 8 p.m. from Reno

Polls close, but results likely hours away

Polls have closed in Nevada, but results will not be available for hours because of long lines.

Results cannot be released until the last person in line at a polling site has voted. In rural Nye County, the line was slightly under an estimated three hours at the time that polls closed. Wait times were also in the hours in populous Clark and Washoe counties.

People who are in line at 7 p.m. are allowed to vote.

— Eric Neugeboren, 7 p.m. from Las Vegas

Nonpartisans now biggest Election Day voting bloc

In the second statewide report of Election Day turnout, Republicans’ lead continued to narrow — and voters not registered to either party are now nearly 40 percent of the day’s electorate.

Through 2 p.m., 129,515 Nevadans have voted on Election Day — on pace to be a bigger share of the total vote than in 2020. Of those, 50,356 voters are registered nonpartisans or belong to minor parties. Republicans make up 32.7 percent, or 42,321 voters, and Democrats are 28.4 percent with 36,838 voters.

The latest data drop means that nonpartisans make up about 30 percent of all received votes so far — including mail and in-person early voting — while registered Republicans maintain a roughly 48,000-vote lead over registered Democrats. Many more mail ballots are expected in the coming days, which typically favor Democrats.

Registered Republicans, who had a 7 percent turnout advantage over registered Democrats at 10 a.m., now only have a 4.3 percentage point advantage. That’s an identical figure to where the two parties closed the day in 2020; at 2 p.m. four years ago, Republicans had a 16.5 percent turnout advantage. 

About 71 percent of the Election Day vote has come from Clark County, where nonpartisans’ share of the turnout — about 40 percent — resembles their share in rest of the state. Democrats follow with 31.5 percent in Clark County, and Republicans make up about 29 percent.

In Washoe County, 40 percent of in-person Election Day voters as of 2 p.m. were nonpartisans, while registered Democrats made up about a quarter of the group and registered Republicans made up about 34 percent. At the same time in 2020, Republicans made up the highest share of in-person Election Day voters at 45 percent, while Democrats have since gained slightly and nonpartisans have gained much more.

In Nevada’s 15 rural counties, which lean heavily red, registered Republicans made up about 54 percent of the in-person Election Day vote share as of 2 p.m., slightly lower than their total Election Day share in 2020 and about 13 percentage points lower than all in-person Election Day voters two years ago.

Meanwhile, the Democratic share of rural voters is slightly higher than the past two election cycles, while the nonpartisan share is much larger than in 2022 but on par with 2020.

— Gabby Birenbaum, 3:20 p.m., in Washington, D.C., and Eric Neugeboren in Las Vegas

SOS says young voters’ lack of consistent signatures contributing to need for curing

Nearly 14,000 mail ballots in Nevada so far require signature curing — which the secretary of state’s office says is concentrated among younger voters, who may not have a standard signature.

Voters must sign their mail ballots before turning them in; those signatures are then checked against a voter’s signature on other documents such as their voter registration, for example, to ensure there are no discrepancies.

When there’s a mismatch, a ballot must be cured. To do so, voters can sign a physical or digital affidavit form affirming that the ballot in question is theirs. 

But younger people may be less likely to have a traditional or distinctive signature, given how many documents are now signed online.

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar told The New York Times that the low average age of voters whose ballots are in need of a signature cure owes to “the fact that young people don’t have signatures these days. And when they did register to vote through the automatic voter registration process, they signed a digital pad at DMV, and that became their license signature.”

Voters whose ballot requires a signature will be contacted by their county or potentially a political party. The secretary of state’s office encourages voters to check that their contact information is up to date, and to use the state’s BallotTrax service to check their ballot’s status.

While the current figure — 13,906 ballots in need of a cure — does not include mail ballots that arrived Nov. 3 or were dropped off on Election Day, the problem is currently most concentrated among nonpartisans. There are 6,383 ballots from voters not registered to a major party, 4,026 ballots from registered Democrats and 3,497 ballots from registered Republicans in need of a signature cure.

The Culinary Workers Union Local 226, a key part of the Democratic machine in Nevada, is running a large signature curing program, as in years past. 

 — Gabby Birenbaum, 1:35 p.m., Washington D.C.

Desert Breeze voting site filled with candidates and representatives

Election observers from the Democratic and Republican parties and campaign integrity organizations said the hourlong midmorning voting line at the Desert Breeze Community Center in southwestern Las Vegas had been in place since 7 a.m.

As noon encroached, the line continued to grow. 

That’s one reason campaign representatives and candidates aligned the pathway leading up to the center — they hoped to reach voters one final time. 

District Court Judge Tina Talim, looking to be retained to the Department 14 seat after her appointment this year by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, and Chief Deputy District Attorney Hilary Heap, seeking election to Las Vegas Justice Court Department 4, stood near the bottom of the walkway handing out campaign material to voters as a last reminder.

Along the path, candidates for school board and other down-ballot offices also attempted to give material to voters, who had a 60-minute wait to make up their minds. Tatiana Seaman, the daughter of Las Vegas mayoral candidate Victoria Seaman, said her mother had been at the center earlier in the morning but left to go to another location.

The parking lot was filled with campaign signs, primarily for former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump’s campaign also had a table set up with T-shirts, caps and other paraphernalia supporting the Republican candidate.

 — Howard Stutz, 12:45 p.m., Las Vegas

Allegiant Stadium polling site draws curious voters and Sen. Rosen

Las Vegas residents Jarrett Clark and Anthony Pecora have voted together on Election Day every year for more than a decade. They said it’s a tradition. 

Clark and Pecora thought Allegiant Stadium would be a unique venue for 2024 rather than a school or community center.

“We’ve been here for concerts but never for a football game,” Clark said. “It’s the first time they ever opened the stadium as a voting center.”

The pair said they walked right in and cast their ballots. The Clark County Elections Department had 25 check-in stations and 25 voting booths.

Plus, they also received an Allegiant Stadium-themed black and silver “I voted” sticker along with the traditional red, white and blue sticker handed out by Clark County. Clark and Pecora also took a photo with two of the Las Vegas Raiders Raiderettes cheerleaders.

More than 100 voters were in line before the polls opened. Very quickly, however, the wait time vanished. At one point, local, national and international media crews assigned to Allegiant Stadium outnumbered voters.

According to the Clark County Election Department, as of 1:25 p.m., Allegiant Stadium had seen more than 1,700 voters, the highest number of any of the county’s voting centers.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) arrived shortly after 9 a.m. with a large group of local labor union members and first-time voters to cast her ballot in the race against Republican Sam Brown. In remarks to the media afterward, Rosen encouraged Nevadans to vote.

Josh Arriazia, who recently moved to Las Vegas from Southern California, said he was also excited about using Allegiant Stadium as a polling location. When asked about his selection for president, Arriazia said he was leaning one way after listening to a podcast with Joe Rogan, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump. 

However, he changed his mind after watching an interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I respect Bernie’s views. That changed my opinion,” he said.

— Howard Stutz, 11:20 a.m., Las Vegas

Republicans lead early Nevada Election Day turnout, but by smaller margins than in past

In the first statewide report of in-person Election Day turnout, Democrats made up about 30 percent of the nearly 57,000 votes cast by 10 a.m., while Republicans made up about 37 percent.

This is an improvement for the Democrats compared with 2020 and 2022. In 2020, registered Democrats made up about 22 percent of in-person Election Day votes as of 10 a.m., while Republicans made up about 40 percent of the initial tally. Registered Republicans entered Election Day with a more than 40,000-vote advantage over registered Democrats, meaning they could be cannibalizing some of their past Election Day voting totals.

In Clark County, Democrats held a slight advantage over Republicans after trailing by double digits at the same time in 2020. Across all of Election Day in 2022, Republicans also had a 15 percentage point lead over Democrats.

In Washoe County, Republicans had a 10 percentage point lead over Democrats in the first three hours of in-person Election Day voting. That is about half of the GOP lead in the first three hours of voting on Election Day in 2020 and Washoe Republicans’ advantage across all of Election Day in 2022.

In Nevada’s rural counties, registered Democrats made up about 12 percent of in-person Election Day voters, while registered Republicans made up about 56 percent and had a raw vote lead of about 3,600.

Across Election Day in 2022, registered Republicans made up about two-thirds of rural votes cast in person, while registered Democrats made up about 11 percent.

— Eric Neugeboren, 11:15 a.m.

Long lines in first few hours of voting

As of 10:15 a.m., nearly 43,000 people had voted in person in Clark County.

Wait times were about an hour at the Galleria at Sunset. The line grew as the morning went on and went out the door before 10 a.m. 

Emily Zamora, the executive director of Silver State Voices, a civic engagement group, said in a phone call at around 9 a.m. that there has not been “anything extraordinary” in terms of reports of harassment against election workers.

The group is monitoring Election Day activities throughout the day.

“I think that there are lots of observers out there that are monitoring the election,” Zamora said. “I think that there are some good folks with good intent, and I think that there are some folks that might be out there with not the best intent.”

— Rocio Hernandez, 10:15 a.m., Henderson

The lines were shorter at Reno High School on Tuesday morning, where Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown cast his ballot.

Asked by The Nevada Independent whether he will accept the results of the election, Brown said “our country is going to make a choice, and I’m prepared to — and I believe most people are prepared to — live by that.”

In South Reno, a line snaked out the door of the library and wait times hovered around 40 minutes as a steady stream of cars drove into the parking lot.

Across the county, wait times hover around half an hour with a few outliers. Campaigns and candidates were waving signs and greeting voters. Signs along some side streets urged passing drivers to turnout. 

To check wait times at voting locations in Washoe County, click on this link. 

— Tabitha Mueller, 10 a.m., Reno

Polls open

Election Day voting centers opened at 7 a.m. across the state, allowing those who did not participate during early voting to cast their ballots.

As of Monday morning, about 1.1 million Nevadans cast a ballot in the general election, either through mail ballots or in-person voting, bringing the total voter turnout to 53 percent. 

So far, almost 50 percent of those who have already weighed in have cast a mail ballot, including about 14 percent of Democrats and about 23 percent of Republicans. 

Among those who already voted, almost 34 percent were Democrats and nearly 38 percent were Republicans. Other party registrations accounted for about 28 percent of the total turnout.

To speed up the reporting process for results, the secretary of state issued guidance requesting counties to start tabulating mail ballots on Oct. 21, 15 days before Election Day. In-person early votes can be tabulated starting as early as 8 a.m. on Election Day.

There is no restriction on processing mail ballots before that timeline, which can entail sorting the ballots, reviewing the signature on the return envelope and storing the ballot in a secure location, among other procedural tasks.

Though tabulation begins Tuesday morning, unofficial results will not begin posting until all polls are closed and the last voter in line anywhere in the state has cast their ballot.

To vote on Election Day, voters must be in line by 7 tonight. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5.

— Tabitha Mueller, 7 a.m., Reno