When the first election results flicker onto television, computer or phone screens after polls close on November 3, most voters who punched in their picks in person can be confident those votes are in that first tally. All voters, however, should be confident that their choices will be counted, election officials say.

All registered Nevada voters in the system by October 15 will receive a mail-in ballot, an accommodation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, although the option remains to vote in person on Election Day.

Voters who choose the traditional, in-booth experience will have their picks tabulated immediately, and any issues that might arise, such as signature verifications, can be resolved on the spot, says Wayne Thorley, Nevada Deputy Secretary of State for Elections.

One exception: people who register or update their registrations at a polling location. These voters will need to go through another layer of verification before being counted. Joe Gloria, Clark County’s registrar of voters, says he expects tens of thousands of same-day registrants to vote.

In-person voters should, of course, expect lines, even with 35 physical early voting sites and 125 vote centers on November 3 just in Clark County. Same-day registrants could also lengthen the wait times. With a mail ballot, “The only line is how long it takes you to get to a drop box or a mailbox,” Thorley says.

Gloria says people susceptible to the worst effects of COVID-19 may want to take the mail-in option, which can be a generally lower-pressure experience, especially with local ballots up to 70 races long. “With the mail ballot, you can take your time in voting it. It’s a very long ballot,” he says. “It’ll take some time to get through and vote there on the machine, and that might add to wait time.”

All early voting and day-of vote centers are also drop-off locations for voters who don’t wish to put their ballots in a mailbox—a widespread fear since recent operational changes to the Postal Service under the Trump Administration have led to delayed mail processing with the admitted goal of snarling mail-in voting nationwide.

All dropped-off and mailed-in ballots that have been tabulated through Monday, November 2, will be part of the election night announcement, along with all early in-person voting.

The Clark County elections office might still be working through a backlog of more recently returned ballots as the first returns come in. Gloria says he can’t control the flow, and ballots returned from the prior Thursday on might not be counted immediately.

Thorley notes that he was surprised by how many voters dropped off their ballots on Election Day or the day before during the June primary, which was conducted almost entirely via mail. “But there’s no need to be concerned about us being able to count your ballot,” Gloria says.

The canvas date, when results become official, is November 16.

“It’ll take longer than what Nevadans are used to, because Nevadans are used to having final unofficial election results on election night,” Thorley says. “But with this vote by mail now and the ability to count ballots even that are postmarked by Election Day but received after Election Day, that’s all new. It’s something that voters are going to have to be educated about, but I’m not worried about it extending weeks, months. We’ll be able to get it done within the time frame.”