Clark County elections officials recently made a surprising discovery of over 1,600 mail-in ballots that had not been counted for the November 5 election. The uncounted ballots were found during the canvass of the election as required by law. These ballots were received on time, processed, and secured but had not been tabulated. After the discovery, the ballots were quickly tabulated, and it was confirmed that the additional votes did not impact the outcome of any race.
Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo explained that the uncounted ballots had been set aside for the duplication process. This process involves creating a readable duplicate of a damaged or unreadable ballot using a machine. The unofficial results have been updated, reviewed, and were ready for certification following the tabulation of the discovered ballots.
Despite the rectification of the error, the Nevada Republican Party called for transparency in the handling of the uncounted ballots, citing concerns about election integrity. The party requested that the ballots be recounted with observers present to ensure the accuracy of the process. The county has pledged to conduct an audit in collaboration with the state of Nevada and the secretary of state’s office to address the issue.
During the canvass of the election at the Clark County Commission meeting, there was some controversy as some audience members expressed doubts about the election results. Concerns were raised about discrepancies in the numbers reported by the county and the secretary of state’s office, with claims of deleted votes and stolen elections. However, despite these challenges, the commission voted to certify the election results in accordance with state law.
The canvass of the election revealed a few discrepancies in the ballots cast, including instances where voters left the voting machine before casting their vote or voted in the wrong precinct. However, there were no tabulation errors that would have affected the outcome of any contest. Additionally, audits were performed on a small percentage of the voting machines used, and the tabulating system was found to be 100 percent accurate.
In a separate development, over 9,000 mail-in ballots were left uncounted in the November 5 election due to a lack of signature verification. This issue affected voters from different political affiliations, with a significant number of ballots coming from nonpartisan or other party voters. Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar expressed disappointment over the uncounted ballots and emphasized the importance of verifying signatures to ensure the security of elections.
Despite some concerns raised during the canvass of the election results, both the Clark County Commission and the Las Vegas City Council voted to certify the results. However, there were some issues with the reporting of the canvassing results from the county, leading to confusion among city clerks. Councilwoman Victoria Seaman abstained from the vote, citing concerns about incomplete reports from the county and the need for more clarity in the reporting process.
