Las Vegas - 5 November 2020

1. Various ballot counting

++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Attorney General Aaron Ford, (D) Nevada:

"Unfortunately, what we've seen here is when they can't stop you from voting, they try to stop your vote from counting. One of the initial lawsuits was to turn back the wisdom of the legislature in passing out to all the voters mail ballots. They sued. We prevailed."

3. Election worker puts ballots into envelope

++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Attorney General Aaron Ford, (D) Nevada:

"They are threatening another lawsuit, I view that as, many people have called these types of lawsuits a Hail Mary. It's another opportunity to undermine the confidence in this election. But I won't partake in that. At the end of the day, our state has demonstrated that it knows how to have fair, free and secure elections and that's what we're seeing happening right now."

5. Various ballot counting

++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Attorney General Aaron Ford, (D) Nevada:

"I want to be clear about something. Politicians will not decide the result of this election. Not the current politicians nor former politicians. There's only one result to an election and that comes after every lawful vote has been counted. I'm determined to ensure under our laws and under the Constitution that that absolutely happens here in Nevada."

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4296167

Election results showed Joe Biden with a slim lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, but it was still too early to declare a winner in the race Thursday with a large number of ballots yet to be counted.

The top elections official in the most populous county said more results will be released Friday morning that include mail-in ballots.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, said threats of lawsuits from Republicans over alleged voting improprieties were expected and called them "a Hail Mary."

"It's another opportunity to undermine the confidence in this election. But I won't partake in that." Ford said.

No Republican presidential candidate has carried Nevada since 2004.

But the state has remained a battleground.

Trump fell just shy of winning Nevada and its six electoral college votes four years ago, and this year he campaigned hard in the state hoping for better luck.