Joe Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada grew slightly Friday afternoon, putting the former vice president ahead by 22,657 votes in the battleground state.
The results were mail-in ballots from Democrat-heavy Clark County, which include Las Vegas and three-quarters of Nevada’s population. Biden had 632,558 votes, and Trump had 609,901.
The fresh batch of results were among 63,000 mail ballots that Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria said his workers were starting to process earlier Friday. He expected the bulk would be processed by Sunday.
Gloria has said an additional 60,000 provisional ballots will be processed later.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Joe Biden has increased his lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, leading by 20,137 votes in the battleground state.
Results released Friday from Democrat-heavy Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and three-quarters of Nevada’s population, along with two rural counties, put Biden at 627,104 votes. Trump had 606,967.
Biden’s lead nearly doubled from Thursday, when he was leading Trump by about 11,000 votes.
Clark County has an additional 63,000 mail ballots to be processed over the next few days and 60,000 provisional ballots to be processed later, Registrar Joe Gloria said. He said the county would release more results Friday afternoon but did not know how many ballots could be included.
The state has said it will provide an update later in the day on how many ballots are yet to be counted statewide. On Thursday, it reported that number at 190,150.
Results from about 30,000 mail ballots were released Friday.
Nevada has six Electoral College votes and could be decisive as Biden closes in on the 270 needed to win the White House. It’s too early to call the contest, with votes still being counted.
No Republican presidential candidate has carried Nevada since 2004, but it has remained a battleground. Trump narrowly lost the state in 2016.
Gloria has said the focus is on accuracy over speed and that the large number of mail-in ballots is new and making the counting process take longer than normal.
The state mailed ballots to all active registered voters this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, a move that the Trump campaign previously challenged, claiming it would lead to fraud.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that Biden nearly doubled his lead Friday, not doubled his lead.
