Biden doubles lead in Nevada

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden doubled his lead in Nevada to roughly 22,000 votes on Friday, putting him up 1.7 percentage points over President Trump. 

The development comes as more votes came in from Clark County, the most populous county in the state and home to the city of Las Vegas. 

Biden is on the cusp of winning the presidency as he grows his leads in a number of battlegrounds including Pennsylvania and Georgia. 

The slow pace at which Nevada has reported its results has garnered nationwide attention. The state had more than 1 million ballots cast by mail or in-person prior to Election Day, surpassing the state’s total 2016 turnout. 

“I think it’s important for the entire country to understand that mail ballots on this scale is very new to the state of Nevada,” Clark County registrar Joe Gloria told reporters on Friday. “We made a decision here to provide as much access as we possibly could as a result of the pandemic, and so our process has run a little bit slower.” 

The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Nevada on Thursday, alleging that votes have been cast by deceased people and nonresidents. 

However, election officials in Nevada have pushed back on the assertion that there has been widespread voter fraud.