colorado have been open for about nine hours now and it was really smooth sailing at denver elections until about an hour ago. we are seeing people at the polls again, but about an hour ago there was an announcement made that all state systems were down. the secretary of state's office would like us to clarify that they are state voting systems and then about 20, 30 minutes later denver elections came back up to us and said the voting system, at least at denver elections, is back up and running. create a little bit of a longer wait time. it went from about 10 to 15 minutes to a little past 30 minutes. now keep in mind denver elections expects a big rush hour as people begin to get off work. they're already expecting lines to get longer by this point. this has delayed that process. keep in mind that denver has 26 polling stations as well as 26 dropoff locations. obviously if you were planning

little longer, you may want to consider another option. certainly an interesting afternoon here again, guys, but we'll see what happens. nearly 2 million coloradans early voters have turned in their ballots so far. a significant number considering that is over 50% of registered voters here. as much as we have been talking about how sick we are of all the political ads and how people just want this to be over, i will say having been here all day as frustrated as people can definitely a note of excitement here as well as people get ready to choose the next president of the united states. >> certainly an exciting time, sounds like they got everything squared away quickly. we've seen lines across the country that are hours long, so not too bad here in denver. thanks so much. millions of americans across the country have cast ballots today. there have been some long lines in some places, reports of

confusion about polling places but so far no reports of anything criminal. a judge in nevada denied a request from trump campaign lawyers that were pursuing a lawsuit. the campaign alleged four polling places in one county were keeping the polls open late beyond the closing time friday, the final night of early voting. the lawyers were asking to have the ballots impounded to determine if they were cast by voters who didn't make it to the line by the scheduled time. under nevada law when voters are in line at the time of voting, the judge sided with the county in that case. 9news political reporter brandon rittiman will get to know this big board well this afternoon and evening with many interesting states to track tonight. >> absolutely. i want to piggyback a little off what jessica talked about earlier because we've heard from state officials about that outage statewide. it lasted 29 minutes. it's a system called score.

it briefly went down during the 2014 race as well on election day. they were able to reboot it then. they were able to reboot it today. how they really causes a hiccup is the local clerks are not able to take the signature on a ballot they're opening to compare it to the one on file in the state system and that prevents them from being able to open up ballots and of put them in the machine. anywhere they've been able to check the signature they've been able to count those through the entire process, but they haven't been ab up new ballots in the mail and they haven't been able to check in people who want to vote in person because they're not able to look them up or enter them into the state registration system. again, that's back online. what we have behind me is the latest turnout statistic from the state. they've given us two updates today. you can see the one they gave us this afternoon, there's a significant gap that's opened up here where more republican voters have turned out. 36,000 more of them. now i should also say i was

they've had an issue intermittent throughout the day that has prevented people from having normal ballots put into the system. they've entered in provisional ballots to count tomorrow. it's possible since boulder is a heavily democratic area there's some of them missing. i don't know that it's 36,000 of them. we've also seen an uptick in unaffiliated and third-party voters as well who kind of lagged behind in the early voting that we've seen. 2 point 9news political -- 2.4 million votes in. 9news political analyst floyd ciruli will help us go through that. even unaffiliated and nonpartisan voters are the biggest group in the state. they're only 32% compared to 35% of the turnout for republicans now. again, this doesn't tell you how they voted and the biggest question of the night is how this yellow line votes.

republican or democrat. if they're breaking for trump, it's a good night for him. if they're breaking for hillary, it's going to be a good night for her. >> brandon rittiman, thank you, sir. in addition to the big ticket races, voters will decide on local elections that could fund schools and raise property taxes. 9news reporter nelson garcia joins us with more on the bond issue and levy override questions. is in a record year for school districts turning to voters >> voters are being asked to generate around $4.4 billion for schools through increased property taxes. the old record was seteight years ago at 2.7 million. the biggest races account for more than half of the total being asked. the biggest questions are in denver and jefferson county where voters are asked for more than $600 million in each respective county. in denver these ballot

up. up north the poudre valley school district is looking for 350 million. finally aurora public schools wants a $300 million bond issue. if it wins, it will get an additional $24 million from the state. some of that will be from marijuana revenue. obviously most of the night will focus on the big information on these school district elections, i'll be updating at our website often at 9news.com and we'll send out results on twitter@9newseducation. >> so important to those people in those specific counties. thank you, nelson. an aurora police officer is recovering after being shot this afternoon pursuing what appears to be a murder suspect. by the end of the incident two other people were dead, both denver and aurora police

the montbello neighborhood in denver near i-70 and chambers road. >> reporter: good afternoon. this is where the aurora police officer got shot. my partner will show you a little bit of the scene. it's probably going to be a long night for denver police investigating this incident. so you might wonder how an aurora police officer ended up in denver. what had happened as police are telling us, that there was a shoong around 11:00 in aurora. a man in that shooting died. so aurora police followed the homicide suspect here to denver. they received information that he was at this house. so a number of aurora officers and at least one denver officer came to this particular house trying to contact the murder suspect and a confrontation happened that led to an aurora police officer being shot.

address from what we understand at this point and again this is a very active and ongoing investigation. the suspect exited the residence and a confrontation ensued which resulted in one aurora police officer sustaining an injury. he was transported to the hospital where he is currently receiving treatment. >> reporter: tell us the aurora police officer shot in this case was shot in the face. he's treated at university hospital. he is expected to recover. many questions remain tonight including who the suspect is, how and if he's related to the man that he's accused of killing in aurora earlier today. what actually happened between him and the officers that led to this shooting? we do not expect to learn much about this tonight. aurora and denver probably will

earliest tomorrow. the streets around this neighborhood are still blocked and probably will be blocked for a number of hours as police collect evidence, bullets, clean this up and then eventually open it up for residents to be able to drive around here. >> remember to stay away, respect the investigation and those that live in that area. thank you. the registered nurse who prosecutors say stole drugs from university investigation in another state for trying to do the same thing months prior according to a report obtained by 9wants to know. the case started a small healthcare. 9wants to know investigator chris vanderveen broke this story online this afternoon. the oklahoma board of nursing started looking at casey unrue months before she even got a job in colorado. >> that's right. four months before

out fentanyl with saline in colorado. this new information is important because it highlights gaps in a national system that allows nurses to work even when they're under investigation. >> reporter: how hard is it to steal medication? >> it's not hard at all. >> when we spoke with a nurse about the problem months ago, he told us his drug of choice was fentanyl. >> to tell me not to do it when you're in that addiction feels like telling a person not to breathe. >> reporter: maybe it at the center of another investigation, this one involving a nurse named casey unrue. she worked inside the dialysis unit. it's believed she swapped fentanyl with saline and used the powerful narcotic herself. 9wants to know obtained oklahoma records that show us oklahoma state university medical center in tulsa suspected unrue of trying to take drugs there six months prior to the colorado case.

of nursing was actively investigating unrue but clearly not actively looking for her because in april they received this, a return to sender note on the letter they tried to send her. shortly thereafter she was in colorado practicing medicine and not belong after that university staff caught her trying to steal methods. universities ins they did all necessary background checks -- insists they did all necessary background checks on her. they had no way of knowing in that state the investigation was ongoing and thus not public. here's what's key. the longer an investigation by the state board of nursing takes, the greater the chance a nurse has of getting a job elsewhere. earlier in the year we found a colorado nurse under investigation for stealing a massive amount of drugs from a colorado hospital. while under investigation by this state she moved to florida and was caught trying to steal

this. >> it's unbelievable. i sat through a five hour sentencing hearing for rocky allen yesterday. i can't help but draw some parallels here for that surgical tech at swedish who was just sentenced to 6 1/2 years yesterday, similar case? >> the most important parallel is in both instances both of those individuals had been caught, but in those instances it was quiet enough that their future employer simply did not know that they had been caught and as we reported, the system >> really fascinating stuff. thank you. some good news about the election this afternoon, we are now just a few minutes away from the last political ad on 9news. look at that. >> we should have bought a cake or something. >> you feel like it should be new year's eve. we should have confetti. >> you can celebrate at home. it's set to air around 4:22 p.m. the final ailed in the

presidential race ran about 3:49 this afternoon. >> there is still time to vote. you need to move quickly. >> warm and dry across the metro area. belen will tell us if there's moisture in the extended forecast. >> as we led -- head to break, here's a check on the election

come on, come on. we're looking for you (that, my friends -- for you. >> , that my friends, is reverend josephine. she's volunteered for 24 years and she wants you to vote. as of abou 2.4 million people have participated in early voting in colorado. republicans are leading democrats in terms of the number of ballots. more than 700,000 unaffiliated voters turned in their ballots. again, that does not reflect how people voted, just how many ballots have been returned. the polls are open until 7 p.m. we have all the information you need on the voter guide on

>> moment to say respect your elders and listen to what they have to say, vote. this is a live look at the plaza in new york city this afternoon. we'll see a lot more of this tonight on nbc as they start getting early returns. we hope you stick with 9news and nbc and channel 20 for your election results. another sunny and warm day this election day. i don't think many of us remember an election day this warm, highs in the metro area. >> meteorologist belen deleon is enjoying this beautiful day in the 9news backyard. >> not a shabby way to be out here on an election day and really no excuse for anybody to not cast their votes. i know you'll be glued to the tv tonight to see what's happening with the results, but don't forget to look outside because we could have a really nice sunset. here is the view from nederland. whenever you have those high clouds in the sky, that sun starts going down, i think that

of a watercolor looking sky. now the conditions will stay dry for the rest of the evening. skies clear. it's kind of quiet. our overnight lows will drop into the tonight. we have a freeze warning in effect for one part of colorado. 63 is the temperature at dia. it's been such a quiet tuesday. out here in the backyard we have 64 degrees. the weather around the rest of the state, in the high country we have a mix of 60s ifs, low 60s for lower elevations and on the eastern plains and here in the city just a few high clouds and that's about it. really dry all across the state. through this evening it will continue to be calm. tomorrow will be the warmest day of the week. in our ex draft still no rain and no snow in sight -- extended forecast still no rain and no snow in sight. considering statistically speaking, november is the fourth snowiest month on

inches of snowfall, but none of that yet. our forecast today stayed dry. we were above normal. our normal high is 56. we got to 64 degrees at dia. sunset tonight will happen at 4:48. you can see that beautiful color in the sky. 37 will be the low tonight, light winds and temperatures across the state in some parts will drop to the 20s like mountain valleys and northern colorado temperatures near freezing for fort collins and greeley 31. to the south and southeast that's where we'll freeze warning in effect from 11:00 through 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. here's what's happening with our weather pattern. we just had this ridge of high pressure building over the western half of the united states of our forecast will continue to be above normal and we need the rain. the rain will be located instead in parts of the pacific northwest, texas and headed over to the new england states.

with mainly dry conditions across the state. futurecast will be ticking but nothing happening. so great weather if you want to get out on the roads or have outdoor plans. this is a favorable forecast for you but not really for our state considering we're mostly dry, abnormal dry and the central part of colorado is experiencing moderate drought conditions. tomorrow the high 72. thursday it's cooler, high 66. for veterans day a high of degrees with high clouds and then we warm right back up again on saturday for 9cares colorado shares, high 68 degrees and the 60s take us through sunday. speaking of, great looking forecast for the weekend on saturday. make sure you find of a location to drop off your location on 9news.com. >> once we wear out all of our crews here, we can focus on colorado shares. >> one thing at a time. >> it will be great.

that was the last political ad of the season. so everybody with me, sigh. >> we hope you did a little cheer, jumped up and down or something. >> it's oh, folks, but plenty -- over, folks, but plenty more election coverage to come, but no more ads. >> to haunt you in the middle of the night like many of us feel like we hear the lines over and over again, all done, forgotten. >> we are nearing the end. el if you feel like you need to do something good with all that negativity over the last year, we have a solution. >> you will say all is right with the world. we do every year at 9cares colorado shares. we just know how wonderful people are at their very core, authentic and generous. it is this saturday. we are collecting nonperishable food, clothing, coats and toys from 7 a.m. until 4:00 at five locations in metro denver, more than 30

okay. that break was the last one with the political ad in it. i promise. we're done now and that is it for us. we're only 30 minutes today of nbc news is next. -- today. nbc news is next. we will be on channel 20 at 5:00. >> we hope you join us, watch democracy in progress tonight. >> a lot to talk about. >> we hope you have a good

tonight, breaking news. decision night. it all comes down to this. >> and america's best days are still ahead of us. if we reach for them together. >> the new adventure isin >> on this historic night, who will it be? hillary clinton or donald trump? just moments away from the first polls closing. voters lined up across the nation to make their voices heard. the candidates, after criss-crossing the nation, end up just a mile apart tonight as the results roll in. but will it be a contested race?