The political world’s attention is on Saturday in the western United States as officials work through another day to count votes in key elections.
Razor-thin elections for Nevada Senate seat and Governor of Arizona has not been called yet. Major counties in both states are working to reduce the tens of thousands of ballots that still need to be counted.
The races we are watching
In Nevada: The Adam Laxalt Republic is hold a slim lead out of about 860 votes for incumbent Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto.
If Cortez Masto wins, Democrats are expected to take control of the Senate. If she loses, the fate of the upper house will be decided in the Georgia vote in December.
In Arizona: Democrat Katie Hobbs leader Republican Kari Lake by about 31,000 votes in the gubernatorial race.
It was a fiery campaign marked by Lake’s baseless claims about the 2020 election and Hobbs’ role as Arizona secretary of state.
Where we expect the results tonight
In both states taking center stage tonight, the major counties will announce a significant number of results.
Clark County, Nevada: Clark County, which is Nevada’s most populous and includes Las Vegas, Results will be announced from 22,000 mail-in ballots remaining tonight, according to county registrar Joe Gloria.
This batch of results will be released “around this afternoon or early evening,” he said, and he estimates that could happen as early as 7 p.m. ET.
Washoe County, Nevada: Washoe County release plan Its next round of results is on Saturday night, around 11 p.m. ET, according to election officials.
There are about 12,000 remaining ballots to be counted there, officials said, though it is not known how many will be in Saturday night’s results.
Washoe County, which includes Reno, is Nevada’s second largest county by population and is considered a revolving county.
Maricopa County, Arizona: More results are expected around 10 p.m. ET Saturday from Maricopa County, the most populous place in Arizona.
Election monitor Bill Gates told CNN that he anticipates a similar drop in votes as last night, when the county reported about 80,000 more votes.
Gates said Friday that there are about 275,000 votes left to count in the county, which includes Phoenix.
