Clock is ticking on ‘curing’ ballots

A letter mailed to a Las Vegas area voter’s home explains that the Clark County Elections Department received the voter’s midterm election ballot, but the signature on the return envelope was missing or didn’t match their registration profile.

The voter has until 5 p.m. Monday to fix the problem and have the vote counted, the letter explains.

Nearly 10,000 such letters have been sent notifying voters that their ballots are in the so-called cure process. About 7,100 still had not been resolved as of Thursday, said Joe Gloria, the county ‘s registrar of voters.

Voters don’t have to wait for the letter to find out. They can check the status of their mail ballot online at bit.ly/3wr61r8.

If there was a problem, there are a few options to verify a signature in Clark County, which recommends using the TXT2CURE Application.

Text Clark to 28683 to start the process and receive a return message with a secure web link. Open the link’s site to go through the verification process.

The back of the notice from the county also includes options for completing a cure affidavit, which must be returned with a photocopy of the voter’s ID by email, fax or U.S. mail.

Voters can also call the election department at 702-455-6552 for guidance.

The county had received 271,605 mail ballots through Thursday, representing 20.65% of the county’s 1,315,438 registered voters.

A few thousand votes is significant in close races, such as the U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Adam Laxalt. Laxalt led Cortez Masto by about 16,000 votes as of Thursday afternoon.

Nevada Democratic Victory, a Democratic advocacy group, is organizing a call bank to contact voters whose ballots need to be cured..

“In order to win and protect every Nevadan, we need to reach every supporter that has encountered a ballot issue and ensure their vote is counted,” the group posted on its site looking for volunteers.

Voter advocates are stressing that every last vote counts, citing a 2020 race for the Clark County Commission in when Democrat Ross Miller beat Republican Stavros Anthony by 15 votes.

In tight races, cured ballots could make the difference.

“The reality is a lot of folks don’t properly fill out their ballots,” said mily Persaud-zamora, the executive director of Silver State Voices, a nonprofit that advocates for greater voter participation in marginalized communities across Nevada. “They might fill it out, seal it, but forget to sign it.”