Nevada will count mail-in-ballots without postmarks received up to 3 days after Election Day: court

The Nevada ruling upholds a lower court’s decision that rejected the RNC lawsuit and is a part of a trend to push back similar challenges by state and local Republicans who are critical of Nevada’s regulations for mail-in ballots. The RNC responded with a statement that declared that the high court “undermined the integrity of Nevada’s elections. Requiring ballots to be postmarked on or before election day is a critical election integrity safeguard that ensures ballots mailed after election day are not counted.”

The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office commended the ruling because it said the state’s elections can “continue uninterrupted, without the risk of disenfranchising voters through no fault of their own.” The RNC challenge sought to end the counting of any ballots that had no postmark because Nevada law already allows ballots to be counted that are received within three days of Election Day.

RNC lawyer Michael Francisco argued that since Nevada accepts mail-in ballots with a postmark that “cannot be determined,” a postmark is required for a mail-in ballot to be accepted.

David Fox, who argued the case against the RNC, said the phrase referring to postmarks that “cannot be determined” also covers ballots with no postmarks at all. The high court’s majority agreed with both assumptions but said tradition favors the latter conclusion. They also said voters could be disenfranchised because a post office failed to stamp a postmark on a mail-in ballot.

“If a voter properly and timely casts their vote by mailing their ballot before or on the day of the election, and through a post office omission the ballot is not postmarked, it would go against public policy to discount that properly cast vote,” the Nevada court wrote in its majority decision.

The ruling is at odds with one in Mississippi, where three judges in the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals of Mississippi ruled Friday that the state cannot count mail-in ballots that arrive at election offices after Election Day – however the decision will likely not have any direct effect on the Nov. 5 presidential election because it has occurred so close to the deadline.