Nearly 10K Nevada mail ballots still need ‘curing’ as deadline nears

Just under 10,000 Nevada mail-in ballots still required signature verification as of Monday, the day before the deadline to do so in order for those voters’ choices to count.

The majority of the 9,956 ballots that still needed to be cured Monday were from Clark County, according to the Nevada secretary of state’s office.

While the high-profile races have been decided, these ballots, if cured, could make a difference among tighter contests.

Those include the race for North Las Vegas City Council’s Ward 2, where Councilwoman Ruth Garcia-Anderson was trailing businessman Robert “Twix” Taylor by 63 votes.

In the Nevada Legislature, Sen. Dallas Harris was behind 852 votes against Republican Lori Rogich.

Assemblyman Max Carter led Republican Nancy Roecker by 295 votes, while Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui was ahead of Republican Rafael Arroyo-Montalvo by 358 votes.

For the Las Vegas Justice Court Department 8 judge position, Nancy Bernstein was leading Amy Ferreira by 534 votes.

Officials, parties reach out

Election officials should’ve been in touch with voters who needed their signatures cured. Additionally, both major parties said they were working to contact them over the phone or by showing up at their homes.

Nonpartisan and minor party voters — classified as “other” in the secretary of state’s office data — accounted for 5,500 of the mail ballots that still need curing, compared with 2,477 for Republicans and 2,029 for Democrats as of Monday.

As of late Monday morning, 22,138 voters had verified their signatures statewide. The curing only applies to mail-in ballots; in-person voters’ signatures were verified when they checked in at polling locations.

As of Monday, registered Democrats had cured 81.4 percent of mail ballots received with signature problems. Republicans had cured 69.4 percent and “other” voters had cured 58.4 percent, according to secretary of state’s office data.

Curing ends Tuesday

Voters have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to cure signatures. To cure a ballot, visit cure.nv or call 702-455-6552.

“We are a battleground state, and races could be close up and down the ballot — every eligible Nevada voter deserves to have their vote counted and voice heard, and signature verification is an important security check in the voting process,” wrote Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar in a statement last week.

With a 70.8 percent turnout rate, more than 1.4 million Nevada voters cast a ballot in the General Election, according to the secretary of state. That’s almost a 7 percentage point decrease from the 2020 election.

This time around, 654,984 Nevadans voted by mail; 543,354 were early, in-person voters and 247,292 voted Election Day.

President-elect Donald Trump was the first Republican to win Nevada since 2004, and Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, narrowly held off a challenge from Republican Sam Brown.

Congressional incumbents in Nevada also kept their seats.

Local jurisdictions will canvass their returns on Thursday, and send them to the Nevada Supreme Court on Nov. 26. For the presidential race, the Electoral College will meet on Dec. 17 and the U.S. Congress will certify the results on Jan. 6. Inauguration Day is Jan. 20.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.