The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that mail-in ballots with smudged, indecipherable, or missing postmarks can be counted for up to three days after polls close on Election Day. This decision comes after a challenge from state and national Republicans, former President Donald Trump’s campaign, and a voter to block these ballots from being counted. The court upheld a decision made in August by a state court judge and stated that the intention was to expand the freedom of Nevadans to vote. Nevada has adopted universal mail voting, sending a ballot to all registered voters unless they opt out, and allowing in-person voting as well.
The court decision was met with mixed reactions, with Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, praising the ruling for allowing election administration to continue uninterrupted. However, the Republican National Committee expressed concern that the integrity of Nevada’s elections had been undermined. The court noted that the state law regarding vote counting was not clear on ballots with unclear postmarks or processing dates, but ultimately ruled in favor of counting these ballots to avoid disenfranchising voters through no fault of their own.
Nevada has nearly 2 million active registered voters, with over 643,000 mail, early, and overseas votes already cast. Early voting is ongoing, and a significant portion of the ballots cast in Nevada’s primaries arrived by mail. The court acknowledged the argument made by the Republican National Committee that counting allegedly invalid mail-in ballots after Election Day could benefit Democratic candidates, as Democrats tend to vote by mail more than GOP voters. The court also cited a federal judge’s conclusion in a Trump campaign challenge from 2020 that allowing three days for mail-in ballots with missing postmarks to arrive at an election office allows for a presumption that the ballot was cast in time.
In the lead-up to the 2024 Election, Nevada is considered one of seven battleground states where the results are expected to be very close. Along with Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Nevada is closely watched for its impact on the election outcome. The state is among eight states with all-mail elections and one of 19 states that allows for the counting of postmarked ballots after Election Day. The U.S. Postal Service has urged voters using mail-in ballots to submit them by a specified date to ensure delivery by Election Day.
There are currently 13 active election-related court cases in Nevada, including the one decided on Monday by the state Supreme Court. In another case, national and state Republicans have an appeal pending before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco regarding a lawsuit seeking to bar the counting of mail-in ballots received after Election Day. The legal battles surrounding election procedures and ballot counting reflect the high stakes and closely contested nature of the electoral process in Nevada and other key battleground states.
