We’ll have reporters throughout town all day and night, from voting sites this morning to parties after results are posted. We’ll talk to voters and candidates. Here’s a rundown of what we saw:
12:14 a.m.
As Tuesday bled into Wednesday, a ballot question on gun background checks remained too close to call.
The measure, as expected, drew support in Clark County and opposition in the state's libertarian rural areas. Voters in every county except for Clark had voted against it by wide margins in unofficial results. However, the measure had drawn enough support in Clark County that yes votes were running about 5,500 higher than no votes statewide, with 73 percent of precincts reporting.
The measure would require background checks for purchases or transfers of guns involving private individuals at gun shows, on the internet and elsewhere. Currently, the background check requirement applies only to sales or transfers from licensed dealers.
11:13 p.m.
Democrats have reclaimed control of the Nevada Assembly after suffering devastating losses in the 2014 midterm election.
Several Republican incumbents lost seats they'd held in Democratic-leaning districts. GOP Assemblyman Derek Armstrong lost to Democratic lawyer Ozzie Fumo in spite of an unprecedented effort from Uber to save him.
Republican David Gardner is the architect of a reorganization of the Clark County School District, but fell to Democratic lobbyist Steve Yeager.
Democrats took seats held by Republicans Shelly Shelton, Victoria Seaman and Brent Jones, as well as Republican-turned Liberatarian John Moore.
While Republicans held a 25-17 majority last session, they could be in the minority by similar proportions when all races wrap up.
11:03 p.m.
Nevada federal race update:
• President: Hillary Clinton 48 percent (W), Donald Trump 45.65 percent
• Senate: Catherine Cortez Masto 47.28 (W), Joe Heck 44.77
• Congress District 1: Dina Titus 62.08 (W), Mary Perry 29.38
• Congress District 2: Mark Amodei 58.31(W), H.D. “Chip” Evans 36.99
• Congress District 3: Jacky Rosen 48.29, Danny Tarkanian 45.12
• Congress District 4: Ruben Kihuen (W) 48.74, Cresent Hardy 44.45
10:25 p.m.
A spokesman for the Nevada Assembly Republican caucus took a break from an election watch party tonight at Red Rock Resort to call some of races for Assembly seats.
“Based on the trends I’m seeing, Stephen Silberkraus has won, Art Ham has won and Derek Armstrong will win,” said Ed Gonzalez, a spokesman for the caucus.
Silberkraus is running against Democrat Elizabeth Cohen in Assembly District 29. Ham is running against Democrat Brittney Miller in Assembly District 5, and Armstrong is running against Ozzie Fumo in Assembly District 21.
10:20 p.m.
Democratic state Sen. Ruben Kihuen has unseated Republican Rep. Cresent Hardy in a solidly Democratic Nevada House district.
The longtime state lawmaker had support from Sen. Harry Reid and the politically formidable Culinary Union. He's a Mexican immigrant who will be Nevada's first Latino congressman.
The swing seat has a double-digit Democratic registration advantage and was held by a Democrat for one term before going Republican in the "red wave" of the 2014 election.
Kihuen's campaign highlighted Hardy's verbal gaffes, opposition to gun control measures and support of Donald Trump, although Hardy revoked his endorsement of the Republican nominee in October.
Hardy and his allies associated Kihuen with "sleaze" after the public relations and lobbying firm where he works was subpoenaed in a corruption investigation targeting a Las Vegas city councilman.
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10:18 p.m.
Nevadans have passed a measure that will exempt medical equipment such as oxygen tanks and hospital beds from the state's sales tax.
Voters gave their blessing to the Medical Patient Tax Relief Act, which is also called Question 4. It must pass a second statewide vote in 2018 before it can become a constitutional amendment.
Supporters say sales tax on the equipment is unnecessary and hits people who are sick or dying, either directly or through indirect, higher insurance premiums.
Opponents argue the proposal is just another giveaway to a special interest group and say public services will take a hit from the lost tax revenue.
The measure was financially backed almost entirely by Bennett Medical Services, a Reno company whose products the measure would exempt from the tax.
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10:07 p.m.
Nevadans have voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
Passage of Ballot Question 2 means Nevadans can possess up to an ounce of pot beginning Jan. 1. A 15 percent excise tax will be levied on the sales, with revenue going to regulate the substance and support education.
Local governments will be allowed to make rules on where marijuana businesses can be located, but won't be allowed to impose blanket bans on the substance.
Nevada voters legalized medical marijuana on the ballot in 2000, but it wasn't until 2013 that the state Legislature passed a law allowing for dispensaries.
Under the new law, only business that have medical pot certificates will be allowed to apply for recreational licenses for the first 18 months.
10:04 p.m.
Nevada voters have approved a measure that aims to break up NV Energy's monopoly and open the electricity market to more competitors.
Voters gave the greenlight to the Energy Choice Initiative, which is also called Question 3. It must pass a second consecutive vote in 2018 before it can become a constitutional amendment.
The measure calls on lawmakers to create a framework for deregulating the state's electrical market and ending the utility company's legal monopoly. It came as large companies including casinos sought to leave NV Energy and find their own providers, but chafed at high exit fees imposed by regulators.
Data center company Switch and the Las Vegas Sands casino company were the primary financial backers.
Opponents included the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Nevada State AFL-CIO.
9:46 p.m.
Hillary Clinton’s victory in Nevada injected some life into the state Democrats’ watch party at the Aria.
When the news flashed across a large television screen in the ballroom, the crowd erupted in hoots, hollers and applause, followed by prolonged chants of “yes we can!”
The moment provided a brief interlude for what has otherwise been a more mellow atmosphere in the room, decked out with balloons and a “Nevada Together” banner.
Democrats, however, had one other reason to cheer: Catherine Cortez Masto beat Republican candidate Joe Heck for U.S. Senate.
9:45 p.m.
Nevada federal race update:
• President: Hillary Clinton 49.21 percent (W), Donald Trump 44.77 percent
• Senate: Catherine Cortez Masto 48.42 (W), Joe Heck 43.99
• Congress District 1: Dina Titus 62.73 (W), Mary Perry 29.10
• Congress District 2: Mark Amodei 57.81(W), H.D. “Chip” Evans 37.73
• Congress District 3: Jacky Rosen 48.90, Danny Tarkanian 44.60
• Congress District 4: Cresent Hardy 43.06, Ruben Kihuen 50.63
9:15 p.m.
Catherine Cortez Masto has won a nail biter Nevada Senate race and will keep the seat of retiring Sen. Harry Reid in Democratic hands.
The two-term former Nevada attorney general triumphed over three-term Republican Rep. Joe Heck in one of the handful of contests that decides which party controls the U.S. Senate.
The 52-year-old Cortez Masto will be the first Latina in the U.S. Senate.
The race attracted mountains of outside cash from donors including the billionaire Koch brothers, who have a long-running feud with Reid and sought the symbolic victory of wresting his seat from the Democratic Party. Heck allies sought to portray Cortez Masto as corrupt during her time as the state's top prosecutor.
Her campaign framed her as a "bipartisan problem solver" independent of the polarizing Reid.
9:15 p.m.
Nevada federal race update:
• President: Hillary Clinton 49.91 percent, Donald Trump 44.29 percent
• Senate: Catherine Cortez Masto 49.09 (W), Joe Heck 43.43
• Congress District 1: Dina Titus 62.73 (W), Mary Perry 29.10
• Congress District 2: Mark Amodei 57.71(W), H.D. “Chip” Evans 38.08
• Congress District 3: Jacky Rosen 48.90, Danny Tarkanian 44.60
• Congress District 4: Cresent Hardy 42.14, Ruben Kihuen 51.63
8:57 p.m.
Republican Rep. Mark Amodei has easily won his bid for re-election in a conservative House district that includes Reno and rural Northern Nevada.
Amodei faced his most serious challenger yet in Democratic talk radio host Chip Evans, but had a steep advantage in the district's 11-point Republican registration edge.
Amodei is a Carson City native and former state lawmaker who's been in Congress since 2011. He served as Donald Trump's Nevada state campaign chairman.
Evans ran TV ads criticizing Amodei for missing votes in Congress and supporting the divisive Republican nominee.
Amodei condemned some of Trump's lewd comments, but said he stood by him in the name of party unity. His own campaign message was that "Amodei Delivers" legislation that helps Nevadans, and that Evans didn't have concrete policy plans.
8:40 p.m.
Nevada federal race update:
• President: Clinton 51.34 percent, Trump 43.11 percent
• Senate: Catherine Cortez Masto 50.49, Joe Heck 42.25
• Congress District 1: Dina Titus 63.18, Mary Perry 28.92
• Congress District 2: Mark Amodei 54.96, H.D. “Chip” Evans 41,12
• Congress District 3: Jacky Rosen 49.32, Danny Tarkanian 44.25
• Congress District 4: Cresent Hardy 41.49, Ruben Kihuen 52.58
8:20 p.m.
Democratic Rep. Dina Titus has coasted to re-election in an urban Las Vegas district where her party has a two-to-one voter registration advantage.
Titus defeated poorly funded Republican candidate Mary Perry and several other little-known independent and minor party candidates to win a third term.
Titus didn't have to campaign much for herself, but was an active supporter of Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Catherine Cortez Masto, who wanted strong support among the high number of Latino voters in her district.
She's a former longtime state lawmaker and served one term in Nevada's 3rd Congressional District before it went Republican.
8:18 p.m.
Hillary for Nevada volunteer Susan Florian, 21, said her stomach was in knots as she watched the election results roll in at the Democratic election watch party at the Aria.
Florian, a UNLV student, has been volunteering for Clinton’s campaign for the last five months, working at least four half days a week, canvassing, phone banking and as an office manager. She was attending the party with her boyfriend, Joshua Rosoff, 24.
“I’m upset. I can’t imagine waking up and him being our president,” she said of Trump.
Rosoff, originally from Florida, didn’t seem too surprised that his home state swung for Trump. “It’s a Southern state,” Rosoff said, shrugging.
8:10 p.m.
Voting is completed in Nevada, with no major voting glitches reported.
An aide to the secretary of state and a Clark County election spokesman say the last polling places closed about 8 p.m. in the Las Vegas area.
Washoe County Registrar of Voters Luanne Cutler says the last of the 86 polling sites in and around Reno closed at 7:45 p.m.
Ballot sites remained open in some areas to accommodate people still in line when polls officially closed at 7 p.m.
8:05 p.m.
There was nonstop roaring and cheers from nearly 400 people gathered at the Nevada GOP’s watch party at the South Point, including China natives-turned-Las Vegas residents Suzanne Qiao and Yan Guo.
Qiao, 55, and Guo, 39, said they came to the United States more than a decade ago in search of a better life. They were proud to note they entered the country legally and worked their way up from restaurant workers in Los Angeles to earn gaming jobs in Nevada.
As a volunteer for the Trump campaign, Guo said she knocked on more than 1,500 doors and made thousands more phone calls, encouraging Nevadans to vote for the Republican candidate.
“This is a country of prosperity, where people have the privilege to earn high wages and prosper,” Guo said. “Donald Trump wants to expand on that. We want a president that teaches you how to fish, not one that gives you fish.”
7:41 p.m.
The doors have opened at the Nevada Democrats Election Night party, and a largely quiet group is slowly filing into the large ballroom at Aria. Roughly 200 people waited in line for the last hour for the beginning of the event.
7:30 p.m.
Some polling places are still open to accommodate lines in the Las Vegas area, but a spokesman for the registrar of voters says the queues aren't long.
Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin didn't say which ballot spots are still open.
Polls officially closed in Nevada at 7 p.m., but state and local officials say anyone already in line is expected to be able to vote.
7:20 p.m.
At the Red Rock Resort's race and sports book, one large section of the huge video wall was displaying election results. Movie-screen-sized talking heads were analyzing the results, surrounded by NHL, NBA and college football games.
Two private election watch parties also were being held for Nevada Senate and Assembly candidates in hotel suites where, it’s a safe bet, the televisions were tuned to election news.
7:10 p.m.
Polls are officially closed in Nevada, but anyone already in line is expected to be able to cast ballots in the swing state.
Nevada is playing a key role in deciding whether Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump will become president.
A spokeswoman for the secretary of state says there weren't any immediate reports of long lines around the state when polling places closed at 7 p.m.
Voters are also deciding a highly competitive race to replace U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, and perhaps which party holds the Senate majority.
Just over half the state's 1.5 million active registered voters cast ballots through early or absentee voting.
The secretary of state reports that by 5 p.m., more than 1 million votes had been cast early and on Election Day.
Democrats had a 6-point lead over Republicans in early turnout, but Republicans traditionally outperform Democrats on Election Day.
•••
6:50 p.m. Victoria Seaman, the Republican candidate for Nevada Senate District 6, said she likes the national results she’s seeing so far.
“I feel hopeful watching the returns from Florida, Ohio and North Carolina,” Seaman said during a small private watch party at her home.
Seaman, currently District 34 assemblywoman, is running for an open seat in the Summerlin-area district against Democrat Nicole Cannizzaro in what her campaign manager described as an uphill battle.
•••
5:43 p.m. Outside of Planet Hollywood, a group was gathered watching returns on the Miracle Mile Shops Jumbotron. The electoral vote count was 68 for Clinton and 66 for Trump, according to CNN. One man from Kentucky said he didn’t have a comment. Then he added, “If Trump doesn’t win, we’ll have a lot of comments.”
•••
5:35 p.m. The GOP party at the South Point remained almost completely empty through 5:30 p.m., as election results on the East Coast continued to pour in.
Las Vegans Tina Marie and Steve Poncar carried pro-Trump signs into the ballroom in preparation for the evening’s festivities, scheduled to feature speeches from the Trump campaign as well as U.S. Senate hopeful Joe Heck and 4th Congressional District incumbent Cresent Hardy.
Wearing a “Star Spangled Banner”-themed hat with matching red, white and blue sparkling shoes and blouse, Marie, 55, said while she loved the idea of a female president, Trump’s dedication to improving the American economy and way of life was “a game-changer.”
Marie, who is Hispanic, criticized Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for “over 30 years of doing nothing” and cited the 2012 Benghazi attack when Clinton was secretary of state and her use of a private email server as examples of Clinton’s history of “lying to the American public.”
“He’s a businessman and he wants what’s best for our country,” Marie said of Trump. “She has just made the country worse.”
•••
4:48 p.m. A total of 157,803 people have voted today as of 3 p.m., according to Clark County officials. In 2012, 205,693 voters cast ballot on Election Day.
•••
3:58 p.m. The Willows Community Center and Sig Rogich Middle School are also sleepy polling places in Summerlin.
•••
3:32 p.m. The voice of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper echoed at the Caesars Palace sportsbook, with cable news on all but three displays. About 40 people were watching election returns here in the room decorated with red, white and blue balloons and mini American flags. There was also alcohol flowing, of course.
•••
3:21 p.m. Polls were quiet and traffic slow at two Summerlin schools — Becker Middle School and Winternheimer-Staton Elementary School.
•••
3:02 p.m. The South Point Grand Ballroom, where the GOP is holding an election night party, was relatively empty just four hours before representatives for presidential candidate Donald Trump, U.S. Senate candidate Joe Heck and congressional candidate Joe Hardy were scheduled to speak.
Pacing through the ballroom, Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald said he was confident tonight’s results will reflect the appeal of Trump with first-time voters.
“We’re very high on all three races. We’ve seen more voters than ever come out so far this year — on both sides — thanks to Donald Trump,” McDonald said. “And that’s a good thing for us and for Nevada.”
•••
2:15 p.m. In front of the America store at the Miracle Mile Shops, where there is a sale on Election Day merchandise, two Canadians posed with cardboard cutouts of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They said this was the most vitriolic U.S. election they could recall. One woman called Trump a “petulant child.”
•••
1:10 p.m. No complaints were filed by Democrats who had alleged that Republican and Donald Trump poll-watchers and exit-pollers would harass voters in Nevada, so a federal judge in Las Vegas canceled a hearing he tentatively set for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware set the time on Monday, after rejecting calls by Democrats for court orders against the Trump campaign, adviser Roger Stone and his group "Stop the Steal."
The campaign and Stone's group told the judge that volunteers were specifically advised what they could and couldn't do at voting sites.
That included not talking with people within 100 feet of a polling place, and not photographing or using video or audio to record people without that person's permission.
•••
1:50 p.m. A new Morning Consult/Politico exit poll suggests Clinton has gained an advantage over Trump in ground operations to mobilize voters and get them to the polls.
More voters said they were contacted by Hillary Clinton’s campaign than by Donald Trump’s, according to preliminary results from the poll that appear to confirm Clinton’s organizational advantage in the presidential race.
Seventeen percent of voters said they were contacted by Clinton’s campaign by phone or in person, compared to only 8 percent who said Trump’s camp reached them. Another 9 percent said they were contacted by both campaigns, and 62 percent said neither campaign made contact with them.
•••
Derek McLaughlin rose early and made his way to Cambridge Recreation Center in central Las Vegas by 6:15 a.m. Voting started hours earlier on the East Coast, but at this central Las Vegas polling location, McLaughlin was first in line to cast his ballot.
His chosen presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton.
A registered Democrat and truck driver by trade, McLaughlin kicked his head back and exhaled when asked why he supports Clinton. “Oh man, I can think of so many reasons,” the 49-year-old said. “I just feel she’s the best for the job.”
Roughly an hour after voting, he had dropped his wife off to do the same. By this time, a steady stream of people were filing into the recreation center to exercise their right to vote — ending an often-bitter campaign season that began 18 months ago.
Of those surveyed at polling sites across the valley, many expressed relief that Election Day was finally here.
“I could only watch the debates for a little bit,” said Anthony Thipdavong, a Las Vegas bartender who voted for Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson. “I had to walk away from it. It was like playground fighting.”
He wasn’t alone in eschewing the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees. Across town, Henderson resident Daylon Green, 43, also voted for Johnson at the top of his ticket. He flipped a coin this morning to decide whether he should even cast a vote in this election.
“Both of the party candidates were deplorable,” he said. “It’s the most disgusting election I’ve ever seen.”
Other Clark County residents voted out of pure contempt for certain candidates.
Marty Bennett, 58, voted for Trump and other Republicans all the way down the ballot. He’s never been a partisan voter but registered as a Republican this year.
“It’s not so much voting for. It’s who I’m voting against,” Bennett said, referring to Clinton and several of the scandals that have blemished her campaign, including the Benghazi attack and use of a private email server. “I just cannot stomach the Clintons anymore.”
North Las Vegas resident Pam Williams, on the other hand, couldn’t fathom the thought of a Trump presidency. Although she leans conservative on some issues such as health care, the billionaire businessman’s inflammatory rhetoric drove her to vote for Clinton.
“I think he’s trying to put a lot of people against each other, and that’s something I am just not for,” said Williams, who voted Friday but accompanied her son to the Cheyenne High School polling site this morning. “We have enough racism in America.”
Despite being a registered Democrat, Williams didn’t simply vote the party line. She cast votes for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Heck and Republican Cresent Hardy, who’s running for re-election in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District.
“I go either way,” said Williams, a retired teacher. “I do my research and decide what’s best for me and my family.”
Damara Maxey, 25, split her ticket as well, voting for both Clinton and Heck. She also voted yes to two key ballot questions — expanding background checks for purchasing guns and legalizing recreational use of marijuana.
“After this election, everyone’s going to need some,” she quipped, referring to marijuana.
On a more serious note, McLaughlin said the post-election healing needs to be a group effort. “We’ve gotta come together. That’s it.”
• Immigrant advocates in Las Vegas are walking Latino neighbors to get Hispanics who haven't voted yet to the polls.
The group Immigrant Voters Win PAC sent a mariachi group to an eastern Las Vegas home on Tuesday to make sure 20-year-old Jacqueline Lima voted.
Mariachi Vegas Internacional serenaded Lima and her 4-year-old sister, Karla, as they walked to Halle Hewetson Elementary School to vote in the mostly Latino neighborhood.
Lima said she was honored to get a serenade as she went to vote for the first time.
Raul Sosa, a bass guitarist with the mariachi group, also voted for the first time this year.
Both said they voted for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and feared Republican Donald Trump's immigration proposals.
• At William E. Orr Middle School, poll workers said they’d seen a steady but manageable stream of voters all morning. Around 8:15 a.m., the bulk of the 13 voting machines at the site were in use, and there was a line of about 10 people waiting to get into the polling area. Three poll monitors had staged themselves at the site, which is located near the Boulevard Mall in the central valley.
• A 30-foot line had formed at Helen M. Jydstrup Elementary by 8 a.m., with every polling machine in use. Assembled voters in the predominantly Democratic area were diverse in race and age, including first-time voters and some who were elderly. Three poll monitors were at the site, which provided a peaceful and orderly experience.
• Ricardo Lara says he’s anxious to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton because, he said, Donald Trump doesn’t like Mexicans like him. Lara is originally from Mexico but has lived in the U.S. for 14 years and works for a contractor at a nearby Air Force base. The 42-year-old man had trouble finding parking Friday at the crowded early voting site at Cardenas market. It was shut down before he was able to cast a ballot, so he planned to vote Tuesday.
His wife Laura waited for him outside the Mexican grocery store but couldn’t get her citizenship in time to vote.
“It’s not fear,” he said in Spanish about the prospect of Trump becoming president, “but I don’t like it. Not for myself, but for the people who don’t have papers.”
• Officials say morning voting is generally running smoothly at Nevada polling sites. Secretary of State Spokeswoman Gail Anderson said the office hadn’t gotten reports of major problems around the state as of mid-morning Tuesday.
Las Vegas Sun reporters Daniel Rothberg, Jackie Valley, Thomas Moore, Camalot Todd, Chris Kudialis and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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