Campaigns Wait On Nevada's Results

The most important Presidential Election in U.S. history is finally here and the nation is on edge waiting for the results to come in. This year, as in any election year, there are a few very significant states that are up for grabs that the nominees need to hold down to ensure the race tips in their favor. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump are running a tight race as results come in, and both campaigns are waiting on Nevada, among various other important battleground states. So when will Nevada be announced?

Because Nevada is located further west, polls won't close in the state until 10 p.m. EST, so there's going to be some time still before we learn more about how Nevada voted this year. FiveThirtyEight has projected that Nevada would go blue in the 2016 Presidential race, giving Clinton a 58.3 percent chance of winning all six of the state's electoral votes. However, these are just projections and we won't know much about the Nevada race until the results start coming in.

Early in the day, the Trump campaign had already filed a lawsuit in Nevada, alleging voter fraud (as he has done in recent weeks leading up to Nov. 8). The lawsuit claimed that early voting sites in the state's Clark County remained open past closing time in order to allow voters — who were predominately Latino — to cast their ballots.

Trump lost the suit, however, his campaign's allegations and short-lived legal battle contribute to his irresponsible claims of a rigged election, which he has perfectly framed in the case that he loses the election on Tuesday night.

As a tossup state this year, Nevada could go either way, which is why it's an especially important state for candidates to win. Because Nevada's system for electoral votes is winner-take-all whoever wins the state will take all six of its electoral votes and while that is a small number of electorates, it can also make or break the race. There are 10 swing states this year, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nevada, and New Hampshire.

Between these swing states, there are a combined 140 electoral votes between these states, and if the race to the 270 electoral votes necessary to declare a victory is particularly close, Nevada's six will play a crucial role in determining the next president.