Nevada
‘Administrative errors and confusion’: Governor calls on lawmakers to speed up election certification process
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Election reform is on the table as Nevada finally certified the 2024 election results Tuesday. Certifying the election is part of a long process that leads to the electoral college confirming the results next month. But changes could be coming to the way the state counts its votes in future elections.
No more waiting on Nevada.
That seems to be Governor Joe Lombardo’s goal after the Silver State took its time counting those votes.
Now we know why, according to Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar.
“First, let me start by addressing the obvious. It has been a challenging election cycle,” Secretary Aguilar said.
Those challenges played out on a national stage, as Nevada was one of the last states to be called. Now the governor is calling for change after the Nevada Supreme Court certified the general election saying in a statement, “The time it takes to count ballots and finalize our elections in Nevada is simply unacceptable. Nevadans deserve timely election results, and all ballots should be received by election day.”
That’s what the governor wants in the future. That’s not what’s happening now.
Especially since mail-in voting proved to be the most popular way to cast a ballot this year as 45% of Nevadans mailed it in, 37% voted early, and 18% voted on election day.
Mail-in ballots that are postmarked on or before the day of the election and received by the fourth day after election day are accepted and processed.
That led to a backlog of votes to count.
Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar seems open to changing things up for next time. “We have a responsibility to start to build that capacity to ensure we are processing mail ballots in a way that gives us the opportunity to provide the results as close to election night as possible,” Aguilar said.
Since Secretary Aguilar doesn’t want states waiting on Nevada anymore, he suggested a few changes.
“We are all determined to make improvements and suggest legislative steps to ensure our elections remain free and fair, with a focus on continuously improving the voter experience,” Secretary Aguilar said.
But Aguilar admits there were some snafus that led to delayed results among a lot of first-time election officials.
“They continue to deal with the rapid turnover of staff, in an increasingly complex requirement. Those requirements and turnover led to administrative errors and confusion,” Secretary Aguilar said.
Governor Lombardo says ballot issues should be immediately addressed in the next legislative session. That begins in February 2025.
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Nevada
Tahoe man loses $20K at Nevada casino and threatens to bomb facility before arrest, police say
Nevada
2025 worst year for home sales in Southern Nevada since 2007, report says
Home prices in Southern Nevada dropped from record highs to end 2025 and less homes sold last year compared with 2024.
Approximately 28,498 existing homes sold in the region last year, which is down almost 9 percent from the 31,305 homes that sold in 2024, according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors, which pulls its data from the Multiple Listing Service. This is the lowest number of homes sold in a year in Southern Nevada since 2007 right before the Great Recession.
The median sale price for a house sold in Southern Nevada in December was approximately $470,000, a 3.9 percent drop from November, according to LVR. By the end of December, LVR reported 6,396 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s up 28.8 percent from one year earlier.
Despite a down year in sales, the local market did end on a high note.
George Kypreos, president of Las Vegas Realtors, said he is optimistic the housing market could turn around this year. The LVR report noted that home sales in Southern Nevada have seen “peaks and valleys” in recent years, generally declining since 2021 when a record 50,010 properties sold.
“Although it was a relatively slow year for home sales, we’re seeing some encouraging signs heading into the new year,” said Kypreos in a statement. “Buyer activity locally and nationally is starting to improve. Home prices have been fairly stable, and mortgage interest rates ended the year lower than they were the previous year. Most trends are pointing to a more balanced housing market in 2026.”
Freddie Mac currently has the average price for a 30-year fixed-term mortgage rate at 6.1 percent. That mortgage rate has not gone below 6 percent since 2022.
The all-time high median home sale price in Southern Nevada was broken multiple times last year, and currently sits at $488,995 which was last set in November while the condo and townhome market has dropped substantially from an all-time high that was set in October of 2024 ($315,000) to $275,000 to end 2025.
Major residential real estate brokerages are mixed as to where the market will head this year as Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com have all put out their 2026 projections, and they expect a similar market to 2025. Mortgage rates aren’t expected to drop enough next year to unlock the country’s housing market, new builds will continue to lag, and prices will remain relatively elevated.
Realtor.com said in its report that it predicts a “steadier” housing market next year and a slight shift to a more balanced market. Redfin’s report says 2026 will be the year of the “great housing reset,” which means the start of a yearslong period of “gradual increases in home sales and normalization of prices as affordability gradually improves.”
Finally, Zillow said the housing market should “warm up” in 2026 with “buyers seeing a bit more breathing room and sellers benefiting from price stability and more consistent demand.”
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
Nevada
A snowmobiler dies after an avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada
TRUCKEE, Calif. — An avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada on Monday buried a snowmobiler in snow and killed him, authorities said.
Rescuers responded after a 911 call around 2:20 p.m. reported a possible avalanche near Johnson Peak and Castle Peak in Truckee.
The snowmobiler was initially reported missing but then was found under the snow several minutes later, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Fellow recreationists found him but he didn’t survive despite lifesaving efforts, according to the statement.
Emergency personnel were working to safely extract the victim late Monday and to confirm no others were buried.
The sheriff’s office said more avalanches could occur and recommended that people avoid the area.
Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center. The center’s current map shows high risk spots in Utah and Washington and areas of considerable risk in California, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming.
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