Nye County primary count continues as mail ballots, cures are processed

Nye County’s primary remained unsettled after Election Day, with mail ballots and signature cures still moving through the clerk’s office and several close races still hanging in the balance. County officials said 10,038 voters had participated, equal to 27.1% of active registered voters, but about 1,200 more ballots were still slated for processing and roughly 150 mail ballots still needed signature cures as the final deadlines approached.

The county’s election calendar set the next steps in stone. Provisional-ballot cures were due June 12, mailed ballots postmarked June 9 were accepted through June 13, signature-discrepancy cures were due by 5 p.m. June 15, the last day to count mail ballots was June 16, and the canvass to the Board of County Commissioners was set for June 17. Nye County also directed voters to the state VIVID dashboard, which tracks mail-ballot processing and in-person turnout in real time.

That behind-the-scenes work mattered because the Wednesday evening count still showed several contests close enough to draw attention. Kayla Ball led the clerk race with 60.46%, Bill Hockstedler led public administrator with 55.55%, Matt Sadler led District 5 commissioner with 50.41%, Debra Thomas led District 4 commissioner with 52.58%, Brian Kunzi led district attorney with 51.86%, Joe McGill led the sheriff field with 41.68%, and Michael Foley led Pahrump justice of the peace, Department B, with 41.77%. Under Nevada primary law, nonpartisan races are decided outright if a candidate clears 50%; otherwise, the top two move on to the general election.

On primary day, Cori A. Freidhof said voting at Bob Ruud Community Center in Pahrump was moving “fairly smoothly,” and no one had waited more than about three minutes to check in. By about 3:10 p.m., Nye County had received 7,391 mail-in ballots and recorded 919 in-person voters by 3 p.m., underscoring how much of the county’s electorate was still being tallied after the polling place rush had passed.

The county’s ballot included partisan county offices, along with nonpartisan sheriff and Pahrump justice court races, school board trustee seats, and judicial offices. No Democrats filed for Nye County-exclusive offices, so the partisan local ballot was entirely Republican, while independents and third-party candidates were reserved for the general election under Nevada rules. The slower count also puts this primary in sharper relief against 2022, when Nye County’s official turnout reached 39.61%, with Republican turnout at 53.61%.