Clark County election worker’s COVID-19 case won’t affect primary

A Clark County elections employee’s COVID-19 diagnosis should not affect the upcoming primary election or its result reporting and ballot verification processes, a county spokesman said Tuesday.

Spokesman Dan Kulin said an unspecified number of employees are being tested or isolated as a precaution after the employee was diagnosed Monday. The county’s main election office in North Las Vegas reopened Tuesday morning after a brief closure for cleaning.

On Monday, Kulin said, the employee wore a mask while in the building, but he had been in a public area on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. About 75 members of the public and 55 county employees were in the office during the three-day period.

Nevada moved to an all-mail primary system due to fears of coronavirus spreading during traditional voting. Clark County will open three locations on election day, June 9, for same-day registration and in-person filing of absentee ballots. No voting machines will be used in Clark County.

Because of this, Kulin said, election results will be delayed. An update on election night will include ballots counted up to that point, but absentee ballots are counted up until June 16 provided they are postmarked by June 9.

As of Monday, more than 113,000 ballots had been returned in Clark County.

Unofficial final results will be released in the evening of June 16.

Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.