13,000 Nevada ballots, many from young voters, need signature cures

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — More than 13,000 people across Nevada who voted by mail need to verify their identities or their vote will not count, according to the latest data from the Nevada secretary of State’s office.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the number of mail-in ballots needing signature cures was 13,317 – 2.5% of all mail-in ballots returned. Nearly 15,000 voters successfully verified their identities so far this election, data showed. About 1 in every 20 mail-in ballots has required a cure this election.

Democratic Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said the majority of the cures were coming from younger voters who cast their ballots in Clark and Washoe counties – Nevada's two most populous counties and home to Las Vegas and Reno, respectively.

“Young voters don’t have a long history of voting, right?” Aguilar told NewsNation. “The signature that they have is the signature on their voter registration form and sometimes it’s in a digital form at the DMV. Or also it’s their paper registration or just their driver’s license. Those are their signatures and without a long history, it’s hard to compare their signatures.”

The Clark County Election Department will notify voters if there is an issue with their signature, however, a voter must have a phone number or email on file to be notified. Voters have until Nov. 12 to provide a signature.

Voters can check the status of their ballot at their county election office or at vote.nv.gov. Voters needing to cure their signature can visit cure.nv.gov for more information.

“Youth voter engagement is something that I’ve been passionate about for my entire time in office, but the need for signature cure goes beyond youth,” Aguilar said in a statement. “Older voters who may sign their names differently throughout the course of their lives, voters who have recently gotten married but haven’t updated their name on their voter registration, and yes, young people who may not have a set signature developed yet. And since the passage of Automatic Voter Registration, more Nevadans than ever sign their names on digital screens that may look different than their pen-to-paper signatures.”

In Nevada, mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day will continue to be tabulated until Saturday, Nov. 9.

Close margins often decide Nevada elections: In 2022, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo won by about 15,000 votes; Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won by about 8,000 votes. In 2020, President Joe Biden won by about 33,000 votes.