Why does it take so long to count in the West?
Election Day tensions focused on Nevada and Arizona. With Georgia out of the equation, winning both seats is critical to controlling the Senate. However, the count is painful. It is not expected to be evident in the very important competitions this Wednesday.
In Nevada, for example, the official responsible for counting votes in Clark County (Las Vegas, the most populous) explained that they process all packages that arrived by mail on Monday, which adds up to about 14,000 envelopes. And that’s not counting votes that were mailed in on Tuesday during Election Day, which are also legal. “It’s a lot of money,” Joe Gloria said Wednesday. The official has informed that there will be an update tonight, but it will be “small”.
These votes could be the final race for the Senate. Currently, Republican Adam Laxalt, backed by Donald Trump, is leading by 22,000 votes against Catherine Cortez Masto, the Democrat who is fighting to stay in the Senate. Only 66% of the votes were counted in a state with a population of 3.2 million.
In Washoe County, in the same state, the person in charge of the election confirmed that he obtained 4,000 ballot papers via the courier service. “It is certainly much more than we expected today,” he said. Unlike Clark County, Washoe is a Republican stronghold in which Laxalt has a better chance of extending its lead, by less than two percentage points.
in Arizona The picture is similar. Democrats Mark Kelly and Katie Hobbs saw their advantages diminished over hours in battles for the Senate and local government, respectively. 33% of the votes have yet to be counted. In Pinal County alone, 26,000 ballot papers have yet to be processed, 9,000 in Yuma and 12,000 in Cochise. Local law gives until November 28 to close the screening process.
Image from Reuters.
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