Clark County voters wait five hours as final ballot cast at Brinley Middle School

Clark County voters faced some of the longest lines in recent state history during last week's general election. The final ballot in the state was cast at Brinley Middle School in Las Vegas just before midnight. That was five hours after the standard 7 p.m. closing time.

Nevada law requires election results to remain sealed until the last person in line at 7 p.m. has cast a ballot. This rule made Nevada the final state to release initial results this year. It lagged behind states with similar laws, such as Hawaii and Alaska.

Breanna Lareese Butler, 36, worked a shift at United Healthcare before going to the Brinley site. She waited three hours in the cold before voting. Butler, a mother of three, said the wait was necessary for her voice to be heard.

Clark County Registrar Lorena Portillo initially attributed the delays to voter excitement and a long ballot. The ballot included 58 contests for district court judge, a schedule that occurs only every six years. Portillo later described the lines as unfortunate but noted that long lines are not unusual on Election Day.

Experts pointed to resource allocation issues. Ted Allen, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherster, noted that people leave voting lines at a rate of 2 to 4 percent per hour. He said that voters effectively gave up and were disenfranchised.

Briseyda Jaimes, 21, left a polling site at Las Vegas City Hall around 1 p.m. after waiting more than an hour with her 14-month-old daughter. She returned later that day to vote. Jaimes said she wanted to set an example for her daughter and honor immigrants who could not vote.

State Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said he wants to examine the law that delays result reporting. He emphasized the need to balance the right to vote with public information access. Aguilar also stated that the state should review the funding it provides to county election offices.

Clark County spokesperson Jennifer Cooper said the county is exploring solutions to reduce wait times. These include seeking community partnerships for new sites and forecasting voter volume. Portillo said the county will adjust for new sites like Brinley Middle School, where the county had less historical data on voter participation.