The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed Monday a lower court’s ruling that mail ballots arriving up to three days after the Nov. 5 election can be counted, regardless of whether they bear a postmark.
The verdict upholds a previous lower court’s decision and expands the scope of the state law mandating that such ballots be counted when a postmark “cannot be determined,” according to the ruling. The ruling marks a setback for the Republican National Committee (RNC), which maintained that the law should only cover ballots with unreadable postmarks.
The court’s majority opinion argued that dismissing a vote mailed on or before election day due to missing postmarks from postal errors would contravene public policy. The justices argued that no valid reason exists to differentiate between ballots with smeared or illegible postmarks and those completely lacking one.
“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,” Nevada’s majority opinion reads.
Justices said they acknowledged the RNC‘s standing due to competitive injury, yet they upheld the lower court’s decision, noting the RNC’s unlikely success in their case, according to the court document. The justices also said both interpretations of the law are reasonable but highlighted discussions among lawmakers during the bill’s passage about allowing the counting of ballots without postmarks. (RELATED: Federal Judge Upholds Arizona Law To Verify Voters’ Citizenship Status)
They further emphasized that the lawmakers intended the legislation to broaden voting methods and simplify the voting process, the court filing added. The court dismissed the notion that mail ballots inherently favor Democrats, thus rejecting any claims of partisan bias in their decision.
Out of the seven justices, five agreed with the majority ruling, according to the court filing. The two remaining justices concurred with the outcome but for differing reasons; one cited inadequate evidence from the appellants, and the other emphasized the imprudence of altering electoral rules so close to election day.
“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,” RNC Spokesperson Claire Zunk said, The Hill reported. “It is also a requirement of Nevada law. By allowing Nevada officials to ignore the law’s postmark requirement, the state’s highest court has undermined the integrity of Nevada’s elections.”
The RNC did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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