Clark County is boosting security to better protect poll workers and election facilities in response to an uptick in threats nationwide.

The enhanced measures include better lighting and temporary fences around the election department and certain polling places, Clark County Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo said at a news conference Wednesday.

Election officials across the country have worked to improve security protocols for the November election. Early voting in Nevada begins Saturday; in Clark County, mail-in ballots went out last week to registered voters.

For election officials, the priority is two-fold: The safety of workers and polling places, and keeping the process of voting and ballot-counting secure.

Across the country, election staff have been the target of death threats and harassment fueled by former President Donald Trump’s lies of a rigged election in his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. Trump and his backers filed numerous legal challenges raising his false claims, all of which were dismissed by numerous courts or withdrawn.

Portillo said her staff has had extensive discussions on how to minimize disturbances and distractions during early voting and on Election Day and safely deescalate disruptions. Though Portillo said the county for safety reasons would not disclose all the measures, she expressed confidence in the protocols.

“It takes a village,” Portillo said. “It’s a lot to manage, but it makes it so much better and easier when you have folks that you know share the same passion and commitment.”

Federal agencies issued a warning this month about domestic threats from extremists with “election-related grievances” targeting election workers, political candidates and lawmakers ahead of the election.

That bulletin warned officials of domestic violent extremists who “continue to create, exploit, and promote narratives about the election process or legal decisions involving political figures, and we are concerned that these grievances could motivate some domestic violent extremists to engage in violence, as we saw during the 2020 election cycle.”

Portillo said she couldn’t recall if Clark County had reports or arrests for voter intimidation in the 2022 midterm election or this year’s primary and that the election safety planning has included collaboration with the secretary of state’s office and law enforcement with a common goal of safety.

“We are set up to handle any type of security breach or any type of concern; we are ready,” Portillo said. “We hope it’s very uneventful, where the event is 100% voting participation. We hope that’s the big event, the big story.”

Portillo emphasized that election workers are eager to assist in making the election run as smoothly as possible and have been a highlight of the preparation process.

“It’s very heartwarming to see how excited they are and how dedicated they are,” Portillo said. “And they’re rooting for a great election, just like we all are. We want to be able to, not only get through this, but do it right.”

Reinforcements in place

Clark County is confident in what they called small, but meaningful updates to the election process, Portillo said.

There are two noticeable reinforcements: more voting machines and significantly more staff.

Nevada in 2020 was the last state to declare a winner in the presidential race, announcing results four days after the election.

That’s because state law specifies that mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day will be accepted until 5 p.m. four days after Election Day and processed. Nevada election officials have also said that accuracy in tabulating votes is prioritized over speed.

“I do not jeopardize accuracy,” Portillo said. “We did do what we could to increase capacity without jeopardizing accuracy, and that is really important to us.”

In Clark County, she said, the results of early voting and already processed mail-in ballots will be posted online after the polls have closed at 7 p.m. on Election Day — Nov. 5 — and the last voter has voted, which could stretch past 8 p.m., depending on how long lines are at the polls.

A spokesperson with the county said initial results from in-person Election Day voting would also come hours after the first update; however those results could come in the early hours of Nov. 6. Further results will be released throughout the day Nov. 6.

In August, the county began mailing voters an optional form to update or verify their signature with hopes of decreasing the number of ballots flagged for mismatched signatures. The initiative came after 14,000 votes in Clark County were uncounted in the 2022 general election because voters did not resolve the discrepancies in time.

This year, the signature curing process will not be finished until Tuesday, Nov. 12, as the Monday before is Veterans Day. Voters who are asked to rectify their signature will receive a message from the county, and must respond by that Tuesday deadline.

The county utilizes two intake machines to scan mail-in ballots and capture signatures, preparing the ballots for processing. The two machines can count to 18,000 ballots an hour, a spokesperson with the county said. Starting Sunday, the number of mail-in ballots already received will be made public by the county.

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