A chorus of telephone rings, scanner bleeps and office chatter floated around the Washoe County Registrar’s Office Monday as county workers prepared for the highest workplace pitch in four years. It was almost Election Day.

"I am convinced that most people don't know what this office goes through," Caralyn Landacre said as she scanned the signatures of early voters into the registrar's computer database.

"It is intense, it's emotional," fellow worker Candace Chapman added in between answering phones and taking absentee ballots.

As Washoe County prepares for its closest presidential race in years, the registrar's office is counting absentee and early ballots and waiting for the onslaught of election results that will start rolling in as the polls close at 7 p.m.

According to county Registrar of Voters Dan Burk, about 213,000 voters are registered in Washoe County, with registered Democrats outpacing registered Republicans by just one-half percentage point, or 1,300 voters.

"It makes it a very close election here, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time," Burk said.

Almost half of those voters cast their ballots early this year, with 20,000 more sending in absentee ballots. Because of the large early vote turnout, Burk said that the general election turnout could be anyone’s guess.

"So many people voted early that we really don't know (spot-on turnout projections)," Burk said.

However, he placed preliminary projections at 75 to 80 percent.

According to Burk, 101,500 voters turned out to the polls early this year, their choices rolling in with the absentee ballots.

Burk expected the early voting results to be available by this evening with absentee votes coming later. Absentee ballots will be accepted at the registrar's office at 1001 E. Ninth St. until 7 p.m.

The choices of 20,000 absentee voters lay in several plastic bins Monday, sealed beneath yellow envelopes and waiting to be counted in the back room of the registrar's office.

The absentee ballots must be opened by hand, their bar-codes scanned and then the signatures matched with those that the county has on file. All this is done by a staff of about five.

According to Burk, some of those ballots contained scribbled pen marks that left the computer scanner confused about the voter's real intention with multiple candidates marked. Those ballots are passed across the room to a long table with representatives from opposing parties facing off to manually correct the ballots.

"One person reads the ballot while the other person (on the other side of the table) marks the choices on a duplicate ballot," Burk said. "Then they switch to verify."

Two observers in black suits stood nearby, keeping their eyes on the process. The unreadable ballots that the computer scanner is unable to interpret are kept on file at the registrar's office, Burk said.

Beyond the tables, a sealed door, labeled simply 1165A, held the key to election night results. The room will become a hotbed of activity on election night, Burk said, as 1,300 electronic memory cards start to roll in from voting machines across Washoe County. Then the choices of Washoe County voters will be electronically transmitted from the cards to the only stand-alone server in the Reno/Sparks area where they will be counted.

Burk and one other individual have exclusive access to the room.

"The elections are like a tightrope practice," Burk, said. "You practice and you practice and you have to be able to perfect it. Then the net is taken away and you have to watch your step."

Burk isn't planning on much sleep tonight. According to Burk, the activity at the registrar's office starts at 5:30 a.m. with machine set-up and doesn't end until about 2 a.m. on Wednesday.

In the interim, Landacre and Chapman will continue to answer phones and scan signatures.

"We are not stressed," Chapman said. "We are busy but it is not (unusual). The biggest thing for me is that the people are educated, informed and that they vote. And we do everything we can here to make that happen."

Landacre added that her job, although it is only a temp position, helps her fulfill a patriotic duty. Although the registrar's office employs 1,100 people through its warehouse, office and polling locations, the registrar's office itself only employs seven permanent workers.

"I like knowing that us being accurate means the difference between someone being able to vote or not," Landacre said. "It is a good feeling. I feel like I am doing my part ... and getting paid for it, too."

Burk said that his job today is to "just do everything correctly."

"This is unlike any election I have seen in intensity," Burk said. "If we can get through this, we can get through anything."