7:14 AM
Nevada says no more results to announce until Thursday morning
Nevada election officials said early Wednesday that they would not announce any further vote count results until Thursday morning, leaving the fate of the state’s six Electoral College votes in the balance.
The Nevada Secretary of State’s Elections Division announced the hiatus for election result updates on Twitter, saying that as of early Wednesday, the state had counted all the votes cast in person before and on Election Day, and all mail-in ballots received up to Tuesday.
That’s it for election results updates until 9:00 am on Nov. 5. Here’s what has been counted so far:
All in person early votes
All in person Election Day votes
All mail ballots through Nov. 2
1/2
— Nevada Elections (@NVElect) November 4, 2020
That leaves the postal votes received on Election Day, and any that come in over the next week but are deemed legitimate under state election laws, plus provisional ballots, left to count.
With about 86% of the votes counted, Biden was leading Mr. Trump by less than a 1% margin, or fewer than 9,000 votes.
7:16 PM
Nevada court grants Trump campaign request to extend hours at some polling sites in Clark County
A state court in Nevada has granted the Trump campaign’s request to extend hours at a handful of polling sites in Clark County, Nevada’s most populous, until 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET), modified with a few additional sites requested by the Nevada State Democratic Party and Democratic National Committee, “that were negatively affected by the delays in Clark County.”
“Best to err on the side of allowing the full, fair opportunity for everyone to cast their votes and participate in our process,” Judge Joe Hardy said in his ruling.
“Anyone who is in line at those listed locations by 8 PM shall now and hereby is permitted to vote and defendants shall allow those votes to be counted as they would with any and all other appropriately casted ballots,” Hardy added later.
The Trump campaign is suing to keep some polls open in Clark County for an extra hour, until 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET) because some precincts had technical problems that kept them from opening on time.
Updated 2:30 PM / November 3, 2020
Election Day
Nevada is among the states to mail ballots to all active registered voters due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though in-person early voting drew record turnout as well. Polls close at 10:00 p.m. ET in Nevada. Mail ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and received within 7 days after the election to be counted.
Also among the changes Nevada made because of the pandemic was to allow county officials to begin tabulating early ballots as early as 15 days before the election.
Updated 1:45 PM / November 3, 2020
State of the race
Years ago considered a toss-up contest, Nevada has been trending in Democrats’ favor.
Fueled by high turnout in 2018, Democrats have expanded their control to both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats, claimed victory in races for nearly every statewide office and touted a slate of wins that led to the history-making first majority-female legislature in the U.S.
Democrats make up 38% of the state’s registered voters, leading Republicans by 6 points. Another 23% of voters are registered nonpartisan.
That gap grows larger in Southern Nevada’s Clark County, which spans the famed Las Vegas Strip and the overwhelming majority of the state’s population. More than 7 in 10 voters in Nevada are registered in Clark County. Forty-one percent are Democrats, 28% are Republicans, and 24% are nonpartisan.
Much of Democrats’ recent success in Nevada is due to their efforts to mobilize voters here in the Las Vegas valley, especially through turnout efforts manned by the influential Culinary Union that represents much of the majority-minority workforce powering the state’s hospitality industry.
Pew estimates 19.7% of eligible voters in the state are Latino. Exit polls estimated 18% of voters in 2016 here were Hispanic.
But this state, which is usually has heavy turnout, thanks in large part to the efforts of native Nevadan and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has faced steep obstacles in Nevada amid a pandemic that has crippled the state’s economy and had dampened turnout efforts.
Republicans also insist they see a path to victory in the Silver State, citing enthusiasm Trump has banked in Nevada since 2016 and backlash over COVID-19 shutdowns imposed by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat.
In 2016, then-candidate Trump trailed his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, by less than 3 points here. By comparison, then-candidate Barack Obama won the state by double digits in 2008 and nearly 7 points in 2012.
Updated 1:00 PM / November 3, 2020
The issues
Coronavirus and economyFew states have faced a deeper economic hit amid the coronavirus pandemic than Nevada, which completely shuttered its tourism industry in the early weeks of the outbreak and has struggled to draw visitors to return in the months since.
With the closures, properties on the Las Vegas Strip reported a virtual 100% collapse in gaming revenue for April and May. Business remains bleak, with Nevada for months ranking among the nation’s worst unemployment rates. Several casinos still remain closed and hundreds furloughed or fully laid off.
About 68% of Nevada voters rated Nevada’s economy as fairly or very bad, according to CBS News polling, and 83% said the economy was a major factor in their vote for president, more than any other issue named.
ImmigrationNearly 11% of Nevada’s workforce were estimated to be undocumented immigrants in 2016 by the Pew Research Center, the largest share of any state in the country, most working in the state’s leisure and hospitality industry.
Years of polling has shown widespread support among Nevadans for long-promised federal immigration reform, though the issue has local dimensions that have proven more divisive.
The local police department’s participation in the controversial 287(g) program, which effectively deputized some officers as immigration enforcement, drew outcry and protests. And amid the pandemic, activists have raised alarm over the treatment of detainees at ICE facilities in the state.
Gun controlMore than two years since the October 1, 2017 shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, the deadliest such massacre in modern American history, gun control remains a hotly debated topic in the state. The attack remains a source of grief in the state, with memorials to the victims hosted this year even amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But efforts by some to strengthen gun restrictions in the state in the wake of the attack have faced defiance, with some sheriffs vowing to carve out “Second Amendment sanctuaries.” Neighboring California called on Nevada to do more to limit its firearm sales last year, after a shooter attacked a Central California garlic festival using an assault weapon purchased in Nevada.