After the Polls Close: Election Returns and Canvassing the Vote — An FAQ

You've exercised your right to vote—either in-person or by submitting your mail ballot—and the polls have closed on Election Day. So what happens next?

This policy brief, "After the Polls Close: Election Returns and Canvassing the Vote—An FAQ," outlines Nevada's procedures for handling ballots after Election Day, ballot counting, and canvassing the vote.

After the polls close, Nevada law mandates that poll workers, referred to as the "election board” – composed of bipartisan citizens – secure all voting machines, vote records, “paper trail” documents, and storage devices, and count and report the number of ballots submitted by a polling location. Two election board members are then responsible for delivering ballots in sealed containers to the county’s Central Counting Location. Special measures are in place for handling mail ballots, which can be processed and counted starting 15 days before Election Day, though results are only reported once polls close.

The brief also details the use of technology in Nevada’s vote-counting process, such as the TotalVote system and other ballot-sorting tools, which help maintain voter integrity by tracking mail ballots to prevent double voting. The State of Nevada also allows voters to track the status of their ballots using BallotTrax, the official site to track, view, and receive messages about the status of their ballot.

Election results are reported by precinct and ballot type and publicly posted both at counting facilities and online through county and state websites.

The final canvassing process, conducted by county boards or the Nevada Supreme Court for statewide results, certifies the election outcomes.

Read and download the full brief below.

This policy brief is part of a series of election information briefs produced by the Guinn Center in the fall of 2024. These briefs are funded, in part, by the Democracy Defense Project.

Other briefs in this series:

• Mail Ballots in Nevada: Procedures, Requirements, and Processing – An FAQ
• Nevada’s VREMS for Voter Registration Management
• Voter Registration Procedure, Security, and List Maintenance – An FAQ

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