Thus, when on Friday the lines for early voting in Nevada were so long as to require keeping the polls open until after the scheduled closing hour, voting continued — as required by this law — until all those waiting in line at closing time were able to cast their ballots.
There was no need for a court order. Or a directive from the Secretary of State or other election official. It wasn’t optional or discretionary. It happened automatically, by force of this statutory requirement. If it hadn’t happened, it would have been a violation of the law — as well as the underlying elementary principle that the statutory requirement protects.
That’s why it’s so troubling to hear a major-party presidential candidate assert that “it’s a rigged system” because this statutory requirement was followed as it must be.
To be sure, the candidate prefaced his “rigged system” assertion with the statement: “It’s being reported that certain key Democratic polling locations in Clark County were kept open for hours and hours beyond closing time to bus and bring Democratic voters in.” If it were indeed true that the polls were staying open “to bus” in extra voters who had not been waiting in line at closing time, that would be a violation of the same state law. But I’ve searched for news reports of any such busing in of extra voters, or indeed any casting of ballots by voters other than those already waiting in line, and I haven’t been able to find a single such report.