We’re in the final stretch. Election Day is on Tuesday, after quite the turnout for early voting.
Washoe County has spent the last few weeks urging people to get out and vote early, with its “Don’t Wait Washoe” campaign.
The Registrar of Voters Office says it will not know if the campaign was successful until a couple of days after the election.
"It is a hard question to answer because on election night if we get 30,000, 40,000 mail ballots dropped in our lap then I would say the campaign probably didn't have as much merit as we really wanted it to," said Andrew McDonald, Washoe County Registrar of Voters.
About 44 percent of Washoe County voters have turned in ballots for early voting. Of that, about 38 percent voted in person and 62 percent voted by mail.
The office is expecting voter turnout to be similar to the 2022 midterm election, which was about 60 percent.
Let’s take a look at early voting numbers.
This year, 54,583 people voted in person early in Washoe County. In comparison, in 2022, 53,503 people voted early.
Looking statewide, 308,025 voted early so far this year. Four years ago, it was 283,976 people.
Those mail ballots will be indicative of how quickly results come in.
You can view the latest information on mail ballots here.
The numbers in 2022 were 103,085 in Washoe County and 524,227 statewide.
This year, Washoe County, along with several other counties, is using new ballot marking devices that physically print out your ballot from the computer so you can take one last glance at it.
There were some kinks that had to be worked out.
"It's much better than the primary,” McDonald said. “The primary was our first time pushing out the ballot marking devices. Folks were still trying to get used to that system. We had a 30 percent turnout in the primary, so lots of people who turned out for this election have already utilized those devices."
If you leave a vote center with that paper ballot and don’t put it in the scanner, you will be considered a fled voter, and your vote will not count.
However, there haven’t been that many issues with it.
McDonald said that most fled voters had to deal with personal emergencies and were not due to people not putting it into the scanner.
So far, the reception of the new devices has been positive.
"People love a tangible ballot in their hands,” McDonald said. “As they print that tangible ballot out, they can actually review that one more time, ensuring that that ballot is properly cast the way they wanted it to."
When he was asked about any bumps in the road, McDonald mentioned the 32,000 ballots that had “FALSE” marked on the return envelopes.
The error was a cosmetic one, and all of those ballots are valid.
Some voters still need to cure their ballots, otherwise, their votes won’t count.
"Over 1,400 ballots needed to be cured, and out of those, 514 have already been cured at a rate of 36 percent,” McDonald said.
If you would like to see more details on curing your ballot, click here.
