Nevada's Supreme Court has ruled that that mail-in ballots with smudged, indecipherable or missing postmarks can be counted for up to three days after polls close on Election Day.
The state's high court rejected a bid by state and national Republicans, former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign and a voter, Scott Johnston, to block them from being counted. Nevada's Secretary of State had ruled in May that ballots without a visible postmark should be counted until 5 p.m. the Friday after Election Day.
Election integrity concerns
This year, that is Nov. 8. Republicans say the court's decision, "undermined the integrity of Nevada's elections."
Lauren Bis is Director of Communications and Engagement at the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
"Not a great way to run the election. Nevada has got a lot of problems already. Here at the Public Interest Legal Foundation we actually had a victory against Virginia that was trying to change the law and just accept ballots that were arriving without postmark. You were able to successfully get an order from the court forcing them not to be able to do that because Virginia law doesn't allow for that. So it's sad to see it go the other way in Nevada."
Mail-in voting has been a hot mess in Nevada, which has six electoral college votes.
The Clark County (Las Vegas) voters’ registrar announced in August, after urging from PILF, that it would investigate concerns about commercial properties on the county’s voter rolls, AFN reported.
The law firm filed papers in June demanding the registrar look into roughly 90 commercial properties – bars, strip clubs, vacant lots, fast-food restaurants and more – that were receiving election ballots from the state to be returned by mail.
Problems not staying in Vegas
Across the entire state, PILF has being raising concerns since 2020 about 1,000-plus commercial addresses that could be used to commit voter fraud.
Joe Biden officially won Nevada in 2020, defeating Donald Trump 50%-48%, a difference of approximately 33,600 votes.
Hillary Clinton narrowly won Nevada in 2016, defeating Trump by approximately 26,400 votes.
Citing official voting data from the 2022 midterm elections, PILF has pointed out 95,556 ballots were mailed to undeliverable addresses across the state during that election.
Ballot fixes OK in Nevada
Bis says Nevada is a state that allows ballot curing, a process in which some states allow voters to correct errors or deficiencies on mail-in ballots.
"Both parties and candidates can have operations that because they continue to accept these ballots after Election Day where they can go and find these voters didn't properly sign their ballot or they forgot to date it and they can work to try to get those ballots cured and fixed be able to be counted. So that adds this whole other level about the election kind of dragging on and on in the state. It's just not the way the people trust the process."
