VICTOR JOECKS: Nevada election results should be known election night

Nevada is known nationwide for entertainment. But what attracts the public are shows on the Strip, not waiting days on election results.

I wrote this on Election Day. Even so, I could confidently predict this: The winner in some Nevada races would not be apparent on election night.

All right, I cheated. That’s not much of a prediction. Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar put out a news release on the “timeline of results.”

Per the schedule, the first vote totals that officials would release would be from mail ballots collected before Election Day and in-person early voting. Then in-person Election Day results would be tabulated and announced. Most of that should have been out on election night or at least by early morning. So why did he need to put out a “timeline”?

That’s because there’s more. Officials accepted mail ballots postmarked by Tuesday if they arrived by Saturday. If a mail ballot doesn’t have a postmark, officials would accept it if it came in by Friday.

If an election is really tight, it may come down to signature cures. The deadline for that was the Tuesday after the election. If a mail ballot has a mismatched signature, officials contact the voter. If the voter confirms it was his or her ballot, the signature is “cured.”

There are two big problems.

First, election officials don’t have control of all ballots on election night. It’s likely the U.S. Post Office would have tens of thousands of completed ballots — after Election Day.

That’s a major security risk. Those ballots could be destroyed by someone who thinks mail ballots will favor their political opponents. Ballots could also be added after the election is over.

Now, the left likes to claim that widespread voter fraud is a myth. It’s a meaningless statement because “widespread” is a weasel word. What’s obvious is that this is a security risk. You wouldn’t put your money in a bank that didn’t know where your money was for days at a time. Nevada’s election officials should know where all of the ballots are once the polls close.

Second, this delay degrades public trust in the integrity of Nevada’s election system — even if no cheating occurs. People understand these vulnerabilities even if officials won’t acknowledge them.

In recent elections, late arriving mail has disproportionately helped Democrats. A Republican candidate can be leading for days, only for late-arriving mail to give a Democrat the victory. That’s exactly what happened to Republican Adam Laxalt when he eventually lost to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in 2022. But this shouldn’t be a partisan issue. This would be just as problematic if late-arriving mail helped Republicans.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Florida routinely releases the vast majority of its results within a few hours. One difference is that Florida’s mail ballots have to be received by Election Day. Nevada should do the same.

Surprise twists are great in the movies. But when they show up in late-arriving election results, people understandably wonder about the integrity of the system. Nevadans should know who won our elections on election night.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.