Ending early in-person voting leaves Nevada Democrats with a lot of work to do • Nevada Current

Just over three-quarters of Nevada's registered voters cast ballots in the last two presidential election cycles – 77% in 2016 and 78% in 2020.

A similar turnout this year would mean about two-thirds of Nevadans who will vote have already done so, while at least half a million more will vote either in person on Election Day Tuesday or by absentee ballot by then.

Just over half — 50.4% — of eligible voters in Nevada had cast their ballots on Friday, the final day of early in-person voting.

Cumulative absentee voting and early in-person voter turnout during the early voting period were slightly less widespread this year than four years ago, when 56% of the electorate attended had cast ballots until early voting ends, according to turnout reports from the Nevada Secretary of State.

Of the more than 542,000 first-time voters, 45.5% were Republicans and 27.7% were Democrats.

Another 26.8% of votes were cast by others, including nonpartisans — a group that would make up the state's largest political party if it were a party — as well as the much smaller number of Nevadans who belong to third parties.

Of the 483,171 mail-in ballots received as of Friday, 40.2% were sent by Democrats, 30.3% by Republicans and 29.4% by others.

Of the total of just over a million votes – absentee and early in-person voting – reported during early voting, 38.4% were Republican, 33.6% Democratic and 28% nonpartisan/other party .

The Secretary of State's Office will continue to release the total number of mail-in ballots each day until Election Day.

In this year's June primary, most mail-in ballots were received the day after Election Day because so many people drop their mail-in ballots in the mail or in a mailbox on Election Day.

So far, so good

“The process went smoothly,” Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said during a news conference Friday, and his office was “I expect the same thing by Election Day.”

He said there were no cases where the application of a new law was necessary enacted during the 2023 legislative session Protect election workers from intimidation and election interference.

Mail-in ballots are already being counted, and county election officials can begin counting in-person votes as early as the morning of Election Day.

That means when polls close on Tuesday, all ballots and mail-in ballots received before Election Day may have been counted, and the initial announcement of results could include a significantly larger number of votes than has been the case in the past.

In 2020, the Nevada presidential race was not called by the media's decision-making bodies until the Saturday after Election Day because Donald Trump and Joe Biden were narrowly separated and a significant number of mail-in ballots had not been counted by the end of Election Day.

The New procedures make officials optimistic that Nevada's results won't be long in coming this year. One of those officials is Lorena Portillo, the voter registrar in Clark County, where 72% of Nevada's registered voters live.

During Friday's briefing with the press, Aguilar and his staff noted that voting machines are not connected to the internet and therefore ballots must be physically transported to the county election office. This was highlighted to address security concerns, but also to highlight the delay in counting votes on Election Day, when ballots are routed to county seats from far-flung rural polling stations.

Despite new procedures designed to speed up the release of results, this is no guarantee that the winners of close races will be known on election night. This is highlighted by the number of postal votes received on Election Day itself but not counted until later during the primaries.

Aguilar encouraged voters to update their contact information at vote.nv.gov So that counties can contact them directly if their signature is not accepted or other issues arise.

Aguilar also joked that his goal is for Nevada's election to go so smoothly that no one outside of Nevada knows who he is.