LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Clark County is ready for the upcoming primary election after months of preparation and the addition of new equipment to count ballots, the top elections official said Thursday.
Lorena Portillo, the registrar of voters for Clark County, said she has the staff and the gear needed to help voters make their choices in the June 11 primary election.
Portillo said voters have begun asking why some contests aren't on their sample ballots. Partisan races with just two candidates, for example, go directly to the general election. Because Nevada is a closed primary state, only Republicans or Democrats may vote in races in their respective parties' primaries, while everyone can vote in nonpartisan contests.
"There's rules for partisan races, there's rules for nonpartisan races, city races as well," Portillo said in an interview in the cavernous North Las Vegas warehouse where elections offices are located. "We are here to help them [voters] understand that. We encourage voters to read their sample ballot or simply call us at (702) 455-VOTE."
She said the county had added equipment to help speed the counting of ballots on Election Day. Where there was once just two mail-ballot reading machines, then four, the county now has six. Where there were once eight stations to read the flash drives that record votes during early and Election Day voting, there are now 26.
And under rules announced by Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar on Wednesday, the county will provide results to the state sooner on Election Day.
"What we're trying to do is accomplish what we do and not skip any steps," Portillo said. "It will continue to be the same, not skip any steps, just a little bit earlier so we can do the sending of the report to them just a little earlier. We hope that does enhance the process. We're always looking for ways to make things better."
Election night results, however, will necessarily be incomplete. That's because they will include only the results of in-person early voting, in-person Election Day voting and mail ballots counted thus far.
Under the law, ballots received by the Saturday after Election Day will still be counted, and that can change the results in tight races. Some candidates have even been ahead on Election Day, but go on to lose as late-arriving mail ballots are counted.
The deadlines are rules put into place by the Nevada Legislature, which adopted universal mail balloting during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and made the process permanent in 2021.
Republican lawmakers in both the Assembly and Senate in 2023 brought bills that would have moved back the mail-ballot deadline — and allowed counties to release final, unofficial results on election night rather than about a week afterwards — but those bills were ignored by majority Democrats and died in committee.
Democrats have argued that they don't want any voters disenfranchised by an earlier deadline, and that a vote placed in the mail on Election Day should be counted the same as one cast at a polling place.
Portillo said she's mindful of the climate of distrust surrounding elections, with some candidates, including former President Donald Trump, questioning the results of the 2020 election with disproved claims of election theft. But she said she encourages anyone who's curious about the process to visit polling places or the election center to observe the system in action.
"I personally love for folks to come and observe," she said. "We love to explain our processes because we know what we have to do to make sure the accuracy and integrity is kept at all times at each station. We love to explain to folks this is what's happening at a counting board station, this is what's happening in tabulation, what machines we're using, how many staff members we have."
Early voting for the primary election starts Saturday and runs until June 7. You can view your voter registration and make any changes to it at registertovote.nv.gov. You can sign up to track your mail ballot online as well. And the secretary of state has posted a list of common myths and facts on its website.
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