Election Day is here. Here’s what you need to know
After months of political ads, campaign stops and text messages asking for donations, Election Day is finally here.
Here’s everything you need to know about Tuesday, from where to vote to signature curing.
Hours and locations
Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m., though if you’re still in line at 7 p.m., you’ll be able to vote. Voting sites are scattered across the Las Vegas Valley. Popular polling sites will include Allegiant Stadium, Galleria at Sunset, East Las Vegas Library, Desert Breeze Community Center and Doolittle Community Center.
For a full list of polling locations, visit Clark County’s Election Department website or see the Review-Journal’s voter guide, published in October.
Don’t wear your candidates’ swag
It might be tempting to wear your MAGA hat or your “,la” shirts to go vote, but that would violate Nevada’s electioneering law. Do not wear any political attire, including buttons and badges, within 100 feet of a voting location.
According to Nevada Secretary of State Cicso Aguilar, voting locations on private property can implement different rules that might be more stringent. It might be best to avoid wearing anything that could be interpreted as a political message.
Voting by mail
If you want to vote by mail, you can drop off your completed ballot at a secure drop box located at any polling location by 7 p.m. on Election Day. The only exception would be if a court order extends voting hours by requiring polls to stay open after 7 p.m. Each Postal Service mailbox has a final pick-up time that serves as a deadline for dropping your ballot.
If you are late, you can drop off your mail ballot by 8:59 p.m. on Election Day at the James C. Brown Post Office, 1001 E. Sunset Road in Las Vegas, to make sure your ballot has an Election Day postmark, according to the Clark County Election Department.
The secretary of state’s office recommends that voters submit their mail ballots at the official drop boxes at polling locations to ensure their timely delivery.
Same-day registration
Still not registered to vote? No worries. You can register using Nevada’s same-day voter registration system. To do that, you must go in-person to a polling location and bring a valid Nevada driver’s license or Nevada ID card. If your ID doesn’t have your current address, you will also need to bring a valid proof of residence, such as a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, property tax statement or rental or lease agreement.
Tracking your vote
Once you’ve cast your vote, there are a couple of ways to make sure it’s been counted. You can go to Ballottrax at nevada.ballottrax.net/voter/and enter your name, birthday and ZIP code. The website will show what step of the counting process the mail ballot is in and whether it’s been counted. You can also visit www.NVSOS.gov/votersearch.
You can also call the Clark County Election Department’s hotline, 702-455-VOTE, to see if your ballot has been counted.
Curing your ballot
The secretary of state’s office urges all voters to verify that their contact information is up to date at vote.nv.gov to make it easy for an election official to notify someone that a signature needs to be cured. The curing process happens when a voter must correct discrepancies on the mail ballot return envelope. Counties have six days after Election Day to cure a voter’s ballot. If ballots aren’t cured in that six-day time frame, the vote will not count. The deadline is 5 p.m. Nov. 12, because the 11th is Veterans Day.
As of Monday morning, more than 24,240 ballots needed curing, or 4.4 percent of total ballots cast, according to data from the secretary of state’s office.
When will results be posted?
Counties were allowed to start tabulating mail ballots on Oct. 21 and can begin tabulating in-person early voting at 8 a.m. on Election Day. Once it is confirmed that the last voter in line has voted Tuesday night and the polls are officially closed, you can expect to see the first batch of results released shortly thereafter, with regular updates posted later. The first batch of results will be those mail ballots cast before Election Day, as well as those in-person early votes and ballots cast before Election Day through the state’s EASE program.
Depending on how close a contest is, you might see some races called by The Associated Press on Tuesday night. The state doesn’t release its unofficial results until Nov. 12.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.