Political organizations, especially Democratic-leaning unions, but also Republican groups that have spent months urging people to vote in Nevada’s key Senate race are now turning their attention to the still-uncalled race “Cure” flawed mail-in ballots.
“Cure” is a process by which voters correct a problem with a mail-in ballot to ensure it is counted. This could mean verifying that the votes really came from them by adding missing signatures or resolving signature matching issues. The deadline for voters in Nevada to “heal” their ballots is Nov. 1. 14. In accordance with national laws.
In the race among Democratic incumbents, the lead is narrow. For Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, the relatively small range of votes in need of “healing” could make a difference. Laxalt currently leads Cortez Masto by around 9,000 votes, according to last count.
The Clark County registrar announced earlier Friday that 9,659 ballots were eligible to be counted in key counties, including Las Vegas. Officials in Washoe County, where Reno is located, said they had 1,440 ballots to process.
Culinary Union Local 226, which represents about 60,000 workers in densely populated Clark and Washoe counties and is at the heart of the state’s democratic effort, told CNN it has “the largest treatment team in the state,” union spokeswoman Bethany Khan said. The organization has “200 canvassers for phone banking, door knocking, and staff cafeteria therapy.”
Other Democratic groups are also involved in the treatment effort. Somos Votantes, a political group founded in 2019 to increase Latino turnout in Nevada, is connecting with voters in Spanish and English and providing transportation to voters in need.
Republicans are also involved in the effort. RNC spokeswoman Halle Balch said in a statement that the group “has a responsibility to inform voters that their ballots need to be processed before they can be counted.”
According to Clark County’s election website, “If a question arises about your signature on the outside of your mail-in ballot return envelope, or if you do not sign the outside of the envelope, the Department of Elections will contact you to notify you of the information in your voter registration.”