Upbeat results from Clark County’s top election officials are being released faster than in 2020 • Nevada Current

Counties in Nevada can begin processing and counting mail-in ballots starting Monday. It’s one of several procedural changes made by election officials hoping to avoid a repeat of the last presidential election, which left an impatient nation waiting five days for results from the Silver State.

The Nevada race, which abruptly switched to universal mail-in voting in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, was not called by the media until the Saturday after Election Day because Donald Trump and Joe Biden were narrowly separated and there were large numbers of Postal ballots that were available had not yet been counted by the end of election day. Although election officials repeatedly reminded that mail-in ballots took longer to process because of the numerous steps involved, the seemingly slow pace of results on election night made Nevada a target jokes nationwide and, more problematically, has given additional fuel to baseless conspiracy theories about mass voter fraud.

“We always hear that people want things to run faster, but what we really want is to maintain the accuracy and integrity of elections while ensuring efficiency,” said Lorena Portillo, voter registrar for Clark County. “I think we’ve found a good middle ground and we’ll get there.”

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

In the 2022 general election, 51% of Nevada voters used mail-in voting, and 64% of those mail-in ballots had been received by county election officials by the end of in-person early voting, according to turnout reports.

In the 2022 general election, 21% of voters cast their votes in person on Election Day and 28% cast their votes early.

Early ballots can be counted by counties starting at 8 a.m. on Election Day.

Counties can also begin counting in-person Election Day votes as they come in. This is another change from previous years, when counting began after polls closed.

But one important thing hasn’t changed: No results will be released on Election Day until all polls in the state close. This is set out in state law. On Election Day, polls officially close at 7:00 p.m., but anyone in line at that time can vote. (Polling station hours may also be extended by court order due to inclement weather or other issues.)

In addition to making processing more efficient, Clark County has more machines and more staff than in 2020, according to Portillo, who spoke to the media Wednesday. The county hires about 3,000 temporary workers during election season.

The path to a postal vote, step by step

First, a mail-in ballot must be received by county election officials. Voters can return their ballots through the United States Postal Service or drop them off at a ballot drop box. The state does not distinguish between ballots returned by mail and ballots dropped off in a drop box in its official turnout reports.

Once these ballots are received by the county election authority, they are prepared for processing. The still sealed envelopes are scanned and the signature on them is recorded.

The signature verification then takes place. The verification process begins with an automatic signature recognition program. Ballots whose signatures are not verified by the program are routed to a manual signature verification area, where a bipartisan team compares the signature on the envelope to signatures on file at the DMV or on electronic registration forms.

The still sealed envelopes are then sorted. Envelopes whose signatures have not been verified begin the signature correction process, where the county attempts to contact voters to let them know there is a problem with their ballot and give them an opportunity to correct the problem. Envelopes with verified signatures — either through the program or manually by the bipartisan team — are submitted to a process called “professional inspection.”

Inspectors inspect and inspect bins containing absentee ballot envelopes. The checked envelopes, which are still sealed, are recorded and then taken to the so-called central counting board area.

In the central area of ​​the counting board, each envelope with a verified signature is physically opened and the ballot paper contained within is removed. The ballots are smoothed and visually inspected by bipartisan teams. Teams take care to ensure that only one ballot is included in the envelope and that the ballot is not so damaged that it cannot be read by the machine that tabulates the votes.

If a ballot is physically damaged and cannot be read by a scanner, a bipartisan team duplicates the ballot on a new ballot that can be read by the tabulation machine.

Each ballot is then assigned a unique number that is used in a post-election audit. Post-election audits are a routine part of the electoral process.

Only after all of this has happened are the ballots passed through a tabulation machine – a high-speed scanner that records candidates for president all the way up to the local school board. Ballots that cannot be read by the scanner are logged and sent back to the central counting point for reproduction.

Inevitably, some ballot papers will be reserved for further review or decision. This can happen when a voter selects more than one candidate (called an “overvote”) or when their evaluation is not immediately clear. These ballots will go to a bipartisan team for resolution.

After ballots are scanned and tabulated, county officials place the ballots in sealed boxes and store them in a secure location. The law requires that these boxes must be stored for at least 22 months.