Nevada's top election official expresses optimism in reporting results quicker

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar (D) is expressing optimism the state could avoid a repeat of 2020, when it took until the weekend for media outlets to project President Biden as the winner of the key battleground.

"We reviewed the Nevada statutes; we found that we had some opportunity to increase the efficiency of the way that things ran," Aguilar said in an interview with The Hill Monday night.

After the final voter casts their ballot in Nevada on Tuesday night, Aguilar's office expects to release a first batch of results that includes all ballots received prior to Election Day—more than 1 million, state data shows, a majority of registered voters.

“Once they cast that ballot, they want to know what is happening. And also, the less time we make people wait, the less dis- and misinformation there is out there,” said Aguilar, who took office last year.

Even so, Aguilar acknowledged the possibility that projecting a winner could take time, just as it did in his election when media outlets didn't project him as the victor until four days after Election Day.

Nevada is one of several swing states that polls have shown remains razor-tight. The Decision Desk HQ/The Hill election forecast predicts former President Trump has a 55 percent chance of beating Vice President Harris in the state.

That slim margin raises the possibility that it may again be days before media outlets have enough confidence to make a projection, despite Nevada officials hoping to report most results within hours of polls closing.

Under state law, mail ballots with signature issues can be cured through early next week. Officials must also count mail ballots received until Saturday if they were postmarked by Election Day. Ballots that show up through Friday are assumed to be valid, even without a proper postmark.

Republicans have unsuccessfully filed lawsuits this cycle, challenging both the Saturday deadline and the assumption of validity for non-postmarked ballots.

Though those efforts have failed, the Republican National Committee recently found success in its appeal challenging how Mississippi similarly accepts mail ballots received after Election Day. Some legal observers expect the Supreme Court will eventually be called on to decide the issue nationally.

“It’s an opportunity to be sure we're including everybody as much as possible in Nevada,” Aguilar said of the state's deadline.

"Nevada is a 24/7 economy," he continued. "It is a working community. We have people who work on the strip 24/7, and we need to ensure that we're including them in the process. Also, we have tribal communities that are in really rural areas, and sometimes it takes some time to get to a drop box or to get to a mailbox."

Going into Election Day, Aguilar said some unexpected issues always pop up. But things seemed to be going smoothly so far, he said.

“Throughout the day, I expected a little bit more commotion, and it's been very quiet,” he said.

Tuesday, however, will be the biggest test yet.

“Here we go,” Aguilar said.