LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- Clark County will post early voting and mail-in ballot totals in its first Election Night totals with Election Day results coming later in the night, the county announced Thursday.
As of Wednesday night, more than 600,000 Clark County residents had already voted in the 2024 general election -- about half choosing to vote by mail and half voting in person.
8 News Now will carry Election Day coverage all afternoon and evening beginning at 3 p.m.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls in Nevada are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or until the last person in line votes. The county and the state will not release totals until the last polling place closes. Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said during the June primary, there was a 10-minute wait time from when the last polling location closed to the first results going online at 8:04 p.m.
On Election Night, the county will release early voting and mail-in ballot totals first. The mail-in ballot totals will be for ballots received through Monday, Nov. 4.
The county expects to release a second batch of data later in the evening with in-person Election Day results.
In the days after, the county will release results in the afternoon and evening as mail-in ballots are tabulated and as voters who need to verify their identities do so.
Nevada state law requires all mail-in ballots to be mailed and postmarked by Election Day. There is then a four-day period after Election Day when county clerks can accept the postmarked ballots and process them. If the ballot does not have a postmark, county clerks can process ballots up to three days after Election Day.
A law passed after the 2020 election allows Nevada county clerks and registrars to process mail-in ballots in the two weeks before an election. This change, and new equipment, will likely make the tabulation process faster than it was in 2020.
The Election Department will notify voters if there is an issue with their signature, however, a voter must have a phone number or email on file to be notified. Voters have until 5 p.m. on the sixth day after Election Day to provide a signature confirmation, Nevada law states — with the Veterans Day holiday, that date this year is Tuesday, Nov. 12.
Clark County voters can see if the county has counted their mail-in ballot under the “Registered Voter Services” section of the election department’s website. The county can also be reached at 702-455-VOTE (8683).
Close margins often decide Nevada elections: In 2022, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo won by about 15,000 votes; Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won by about 8,000 votes. In 2020, President Joe Biden won by about 33,000 votes.
Because of the close margins, the Associated Press, which calls races based on vote totals and their analysis, did not call the 2020 presidential nor the 2022 U.S. Senate race until the Saturday after Election Day. The AP called the race for Lombardo the Friday after that election.