In a blow against fair and honest elections, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled on Monday that mail-in ballots lacking a postmark may be counted in the days after the election.
In its decision, the Silver State’s highest court denied declaratory and injunctive relief sought by the Trump campaign, Republican National Committee (RNC), Nevada GOP, and a state resident in its challenge to Nevada’s counting of non-postmarked ballots. State law stipulates, “If a mail ballot is received by mail not later than 5 p.m. on the third day following the election and the date of the postmark cannot be determined, the mail ballot shall be deemed to have been postmarked on or before the day of the election.”
Unlike most states, Nevada requires local clerks to automatically mail a ballot to all individuals listed on the state’s active voter registration list during each election cycle, according to Ballotpedia.
According to Monday’s ruling, the office of Democrat Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has interpreted the statute “such that a mail without a postmark that is received by 5 p.m. on the third day following the general election must be counted [emphasis added].” In their lawsuit challenging this interpretation, plaintiffs argued that “[c]ounting non-postmarked mail ballots is not permitted by Nevada law, which allows late-arriving mail ballots to be counted in only two circumstances: (1) the ballot is accompanied by a valid postmark indicating it was mailed on or before election day, or (2) the ballot has a postmark but ‘the date of
