The Nevada Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court’s ruling that mail-in ballots that arrive within three days of the Nov. 5 election can be counted regardless of whether they are postmarked.

The ruling upholds previous lower court rulings and expands state law requiring such ballots to be counted if the postmark is “indeterminable.” According to Until the verdict. The ruling is a setback for the Republican National Committee (RNC), which has argued that the law should only apply to ballots with illegible postmarks.

The court’s majority opinion held that it violates public policy to reject ballots mailed on or before Election Day because of missing postmarks in the mail. The justices argued that there was no legitimate reason to distinguish between ballots with erased or illegible postmarks and ballots that lacked a postmark entirely.

The Nevada Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that allowed mail-in ballots received by Election Day without a postmark to be counted in the days after the election. https://t.co/rhcuUAQM0f

— David Charns (@davidcharns) October 28, 2024

“If a voter properly and timely votes by mailing a ballot before or on election day, and the ballot is not postmarked due to postal inaction, the properly cast vote cannot be discounted. ” reads the majority opinion.

According to court documents, the judges acknowledged the RNC’s position on the grounds of athletic injury, but noted that the RNC was unlikely to succeed in its case and upheld the lower court’s ruling. The justices also said that both interpretations of the law were reasonable, but highlighted the debate among lawmakers during the passage of the bill regarding allowing votes to be counted without postmarks. (Related: Federal judge upholds Arizona law to check citizenship status of voters)

Lawmakers also emphasized the bill’s intent to expand voting options and simplify the voting process, the court filing added. The court rejected the idea that mail-in voting inherently favored Democrats and rejected claims of partisan bias in the decision.

Five of the seven justices agreed with the majority’s ruling, according to court filings. The remaining two judges agreed with this result, but for different reasons. One argued that the appellants’ evidence was insufficient, and the other emphasized the imprudence of changing election rules so close to voting day.

“Requiring ballots to be postmarked on or before Election Day is an important election integrity safeguard that ensures that ballots mailed after Election Day are not counted,” RNC spokesperson Sgt. Claire Zink told The Hill. reported. “This is also a requirement of Nevada law. By allowing Nevada officials to ignore the law’s postmark requirement, the state Supreme Court undermined the integrity of Nevada’s elections.”

The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news distribution service, is available free of charge to legitimate news publishers with large audiences. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and DCNF affiliation. If you have any questions about our guidelines or our partnership, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.