Aguilar says Nevada voters deserve better after long Election Day waits

The state’s chief election officer said Wednesday that “Nevadans deserve better” after long wait times at polling stations, which also delayed the release of preliminary election results until just before midnight Tuesday.

“Voters in Nevada deserve credit for their dedication during this General Election. They showed up despite the chaos the federal administration tried to incite in the months leading up to the election, and they overcame serious challenges on Election Day,” said Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar in a statement. “That dedication is worthy of commendation, but no voter should have to wait in line for five hours.”

Aguilar added that his office is ready to support officials from any county “willing to take ownership and confront these issues head-on.”

He didn’t expound on the issues he referenced.

Voting in all Nevada counties concluded by 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, with the exception of Clark County, his office said. The state’s final voter cast a ballot in Brinley Middle School in Las Vegas shortly before midnight.

State law prevents the state from reporting election results until all Nevada voters have completed their ballots.

Aguilar said that the state’s improved election system provides insight about the voting process across the state.

“We’ve been poring over the data since last night to better understand what happened and will readily share what we learn with counties to help them ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Clark County’s Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo said that the county would evaluate its performance.

“After every election, we analyze our entire process, which includes our equipment, analytics, and voter sentiment, and this year will be no different,” she said at a Wednesday press conference.

She acknowledged reports of long wait times.

“The lines at some of our locations this year were unfortunate,” Portillo said. “However, our voting sites were appropriately resourced through staffing and machines based off of turnout numbers at those locations in past elections.”

Clark County operated 136 polling locations on Election Day, using about 5,000 voting machines, 2,300 check-in pads and about 500 tabulators.

Portillo said Clark County ballots were packed with choices this cycle.

“The two-card ballot this year — with 142 contests and 254 candidates — was unique to Clark County and contributed to the time it took for a person to make their choices at election sites,” she said.

Clark County’s mail and early voting participation increased from the previous midterm election four years ago, while in-person voting on Election Day remained almost flat compared with 2022 numbers.

Portillo noted that about 146,000 people showed up to cast a ballot Tuesday; about 220,000 voted during the two weeks of in-person early voting.

Four years ago, those figures were 146,998 and 196,181, respectively, according to state data.

This cycle, election workers processed 378,000 mail ballots as of Wednesday morning with more to come, Portillo said. That was an increase from 340,508 total mail ballots tallied in 2022.

The Silver State allows ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be accepted for up to four days after the election. Mail returned without a legible postmark is accepted for up to three days.

Portillo said that about 4,800 ballots required signature verification, a process known as curing. Affected voters have until 5 p.m. Monday to take action.

Clark County sends out curing notifications.

“If you have a message from the Clark County Election Department, please, please, please respond to our messages as soon as possible and call us,” Portillo said. “We want your ballot to count. Call 702-455-CURE.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at [email protected].