Nevada count continues slowly, with races too close to call

(NewsNation) — Vote counting continues in Nevada, but it may still be several days before election results are in with the state’s Senate race still too close to call, as election officials still have more than 50,000 ballots to count in Clark County.

As of 10:30 p.m. CT on Thursday night, Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt led Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto by a margin of 48.97% to 48% with 94% of votes counted, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Nevada is still receiving large batches of mail-in ballots, which can be collected through Saturday as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.

Counting mail-in ballots takes longer than tabulating in-person votes, which means a lengthier wait for results.

Laxalt is hoping late gains from rural Nevada counties will swing the race in his favor. Cortez Masto’s team is counting on the fact that mail-in voting traditionally favors Democrats.

Cortez Masto’s seat has been considered one of the most vulnerable this election cycle and could help tip the balance of power in the Senate.

In the Nevada governor’s race, Republican Joe Lombardo is leading by about 29,000 votes, according to Decision Desk HQ, which could still change as more mail in ballots are processed.

It’s part of a strategy to switch to hand-counting statewide, led by election deniers who have pushed former President Donald Trump’s accusations of election fraud involving voting machines, despite there being no evidence to support those claims.

Early counting, however, was slow and resulted in mismatched tallies as groups of volunteers pored over ballots. While counting began before Election Day, the process was halted by a judge who ruled that reading the votes out loud during the process violated state law.

The count has resumed, though the county is seeking volunteers to help get it completed by the Nov. 17 deadline. When counting first began, it took volunteers three hours to process 50 votes.