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Thousands of Nevada residents will already have cast their ballots by Election Day on Nov. 6, taking advantage of a 14-day early voting period that begins Saturday.
Nevada is one of 37 states and Washington, D.C., to offer early voting, according to the National Conference for State Legislatures. Nevada residents who are registered to vote and looking to find shorter lines and avoid possible issues Election Day will have from Saturday through Nov. 2 to cast an early ballot.
Clark County’s expanded use of vote centers instead of assigned polling places this year is giving registered voters even more options to cast ballots at their convenience, said Joe Gloria, Clark County registrar of voters.
“With early voting, you have 14 days to choose from, a time and place that’s convenient for you,” Gloria said. “That’s why we try to promote the early-voting program — and most voters vote early, so I think they like that advantage.”
There are 96 early-voting sites set up throughout the county. On Election Day, people can cast their ballots at the same 172 vote centers that were in use during the June primary. The sites include several grocery stores, malls and libraries as well. The information is online at the Clark County election department website and will also be included in sample ballots, which will be sent out before early voting starts.
“We have sites where you shop, where you play and near your work,” Gloria said. “It’s just more convenient during the early-voting period because you have 14 days to look at the schedule and find a time that’s right for you, whereas on Election Day, you never know what might happen.”
The number of Clark County voters casting ballots before Election Day has generally been increasing for decades, accounting for 17.4 percent of 1996 general election ballots compared with 63.6 percent in 2016.
“We like it that way, because of the resources,” Gloria said. “I only had to use about 800 machines to support all those voters over 14 days, whereas on Election Day, I’ll use anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000, depending on the election, to try to service the needs on Election Day.”
Nevada is also one of 27 states that allows people to vote by mail without requiring an explanation, according to NCSL. Any resident can file an Absent Ballot Request Form, available to Clark County voters online, or by calling the Clark County election department at (702) 455-6552.
The Clark County election department website also gives voters the option to request absentee ballots by using its online Registered Voter Services. People can print the form, fill it out and sign it before mailing it to the county elections department, dropping it off in person or scanning it to submit via email to [email protected], according to the county.
People can also write a letter requesting an absentee ballot, and must include name, address, which election the absentee ballot is needed for and whether the ballot should be in English, Spanish or Filipino/Tagalog. Requests can be mailed to the election department in care of P.O. Box 3910, Las Vegas, NV 89127-3910; or 965 Trade Drive, Suite A, North Las Vegas, NV 89030; or 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, First Floor, Suite 1113, Las Vegas, NV 89106.
Absentee ballot requests for this year’s midterm elections have to be turned into to the voter’s county elections office before 5 p.m. Oct. 30.
“We’ll do our best to get the ballot to you, and then it’s up to you to get it back to us,” Gloria said.
State lawmakers recently passed a law allowing voters who have disabilities or are at least 65 years old to request to be added to a permanent mail and absentee ballot list. The Absentee Ballot Request Form carries a box to check for those 65 and older who want to enroll in the permanent absentee ballot list. All other absentee voters have to make the request each election. Completed ballots need to be received by the county by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Gloria said it’s a common misconception that absentee ballots are only counted in close races, when in fact all mailed ballots are counted if they are received at the county’s election office at 965 Trade Drive in North Las Vegas by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Officials make a final run to the main post offices starting at 5 p.m. on Election Day to pick up any ballots they may be holding that were sent to them that day.
“Any voter that comes into the office by 7 p.m. to personally drop off that ballot, as long as it’s here before 7 p.m., it gets processed and sent next door, and those are actually the last ballots that we’ll count into the system after we’ve read all the cartridges for Election Day,” Gloria said.
Active duty members of the military, their spouses and dependents, and Nevada voters living outside the U.S. can use EASE, the Effective Absentee System for Elections, an online system released by the state in 2014. Starting 45 days before the election, a federal requirement, ballots start going out to overseas voters, Gloria said.
Votes aren’t tallied until lines are gone and polls are closed after 7 p.m., he said. The first report the county will release on election night will include all early and absentee voting, Gloria said.
“When we receive those, we put them to the side and they go before our counting board, which doesn’t start to meet until five days before the election,” Gloria said. “That’s when we actually start reading them into the system, but nothing’s tallied until election night.”
People who qualify to use EASE can electronically submit their Federal Post Card Application to the county, a form that acts as voter registration and requests an absentee ballot to be sent electronically.
Gloria’s department then sends the EASE voter an electronic ballot via email that is encrypted to protect it, a particular concern now, he said. Foreign cyberthreats associated with the election have prompted many states to bump up security, as well as take advantage of new collaborations with federal agencies looking to shore up election infrastructure.
“There’s a security ribbon that’s delivered with that to ensure to the voter that they’re getting a ballot that’s been untampered with,” Gloria said. “When we receive that back, we see the same security ribbon that indicates to us that it hasn’t been tampered with before we get it back.”
Upon receipt, the election office then prints out the electronic ballot and marks it onto a duplicate ballot to be read into the system, he said.
“An overseas voter can turn their ballot request into an actual vote that’s submitted within 24 hours,” Gloria said.
There will be many people who vote in the general election who did not vote in the primary, Gloria said. These voters should be prepared to see new voting centers and machines, and make sure their voter registration carries their current information.
Many of those changes, such as change of address, can be made online with a Nevada ID, though an ID is not a requirement to vote in Nevada. Vote centers use electronic voter rolls and verify voters by their signatures.