5 things you need to know about voting on Election Day

After a long campaign, the 2020 election finally will be decided Tuesday. Or will it? Here are five things you need to know about voting on Election Day in Nevada.

1. It’s your last chance to vote!

For those who want to vote in person, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Clark County, at 125 voting centers. (You can vote at any location, regardless of where you live in the county.)

Related: 2020 Election Voter Guide

Tuesday also marks the final day you can send in your mail ballot via the U.S. Postal Service. Ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday in order to be counted. (You can also drop your mail ballot off at any voting center without having to wait in line on Tuesday.)

If you haven’t registered to vote, you can still participate: Just bring your Nevada picture identification to the polls, and if your address on your ID has changed, bring proof of your new residence, such as a rent receipt or utility bill.

Remember: Under state law, if you are in line to vote at 7 p.m., you will be allowed to vote, no matter how long it takes. But no one can get in line after the 7 p.m. closing time.

2. We’ll know a lot on Election Day, but not everything.

Nevada elections officials have been counting mail ballots that have been sent in before Election Day (as of Monday, Nevada officials have received more than 580,0000 mail ballots). And the votes of people who cast ballots in person during early voting have been electronically stored, too. Once every voter in every Nevada county has finished voting Tuesday, those previously counted results — including votes cast on Election Day — will be announced.

Related: Review-Journal endorsements

But that doesn’t end the counting. In every election, mail ballots that were postmarked by Election Day continue to arrive in the days following the election and will still be counted. This year, because of the pandemic, more Nevadans have voted by mail than ever before. No one knows how many ballots will remain to be counted on Election Day, and those late-arriving ballots could change the outcomes in close races.

As a result, the “final unofficial” tally of votes probably won’t be known for several days.

3. You may need to be patient at the polls.

If you vote in person, there may be lines, although probably not as long as there were in the primary election. Because the county will have 125 vote centers, there are plenty of places to choose to vote, so if one voting center is crowded, you can choose another one nearby. (The county even has a tool on its website that allows you to check the wait at the various sites.)

But remember, we’re in a pandemic, and that means procedures are different. Each voting machine is sanitized after every voter uses it, which adds time. In addition, the ballot this year is the longest Clark County voters have ever seen, so it’s a good idea to study the candidates and issues before you head to the polls so you don’t have to puzzle over your choices in the voting booth. (The Review-Journal’s voter guide will allow you to study the issues and candidates beforehand.)

4. Voter intimidation is illegal.

The right to cast your ballot is protected by Nevada law, and intimidating voters is illegal in Nevada. If you observe any voter intimidation, which includes threats of violence or restraint or infliction of damage to person or property, you are asked to report the same to the state. The secretary of state’s hotline will be operating from 7 a.m. until after the polls close on Tuesday, at 775-684-5705, or by email at nvelect@sos.nv.gov.

5. Stick with the Review-Journal for results.

It’s not clear when results may come in, but the Review-Journal’s reporters will be watching so that when they do, we’ll get them to you as quickly as possible. We’ll have coverage in print, on our website and on our mobile app, so be sure to check back frequently on election night for the latest.

Contact Steve Sebelius at SSebelius@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253. Follow @SteveSebelius on Twitter.