Nevada is preparing for the possibility that an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling reverses laws that allow states to count mail ballots received after Election Day, Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said Tuesday.
“As opposed to any of the president’s executive orders, we can’t challenge a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court or file a lawsuit against it,” Aguilar said. “We have to accept it.”
His comments came during a briefing about the first weekend of early voting in Nevada for the June 9 primary. He reported no issues with the voting so far.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year that called for a deadline of Election Day for acceptable returned ballots.
The Supreme Court case originated in Mississippi, where the Republican National Committee and the state’s Libertarian Party sued the state over a law that allows mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be accepted for five subsequent days.
Nevada and about a dozen other states passed similar laws. Plaintiffs argued that the laws undermine trust and confidence in the election process.
The Silver State allows ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be accepted for up to four days after the election. Mail returned without a legible postmark is accepted for up to three days.
A ruling from the higher court is not expected until after the June primary. But it could prompt changes for November’s General Election.
Roughly 45 percent of Nevada voters cast a ballot through the mail in the 2024 General Election, with Douglas and Nye counties leading in participation, according to the state. Day-of turnout was about 18 percent.
Nevada would communicate any changes in mail voting to voters through its various channels, said Aguilar, reiterating how popular mail-in voting is in the state.
“No matter a voter’s geography or political affiliation, Nevadans demand mail ballots,” Aguilar said.
More than 11K Clark County residents have voted in person
In-person, early voting in Nevada kicked off Saturday. Participation stood at about 17,000 voters as of Tuesday afternoon, according to real-time state data. More than 11,500 of them had cast in-person ballots in Clark County.
Election departments started receiving returned mail ballots last week. Data shows that more than 46,300 Nevadans had submitted mail ballots since then, and about 43,000 of the mail ballots already have been accepted. Roughly 26,000 of them had been mailed by Clark County voters.
About 96 percent of the some 2 million ballots mailed to every registered voter in Nevada have not yet been returned, the data showed.
Voters have three options to return the mail ballots: Send them back for free by mail, or take them to drop sites or polling stations.
Aguilar recommended that voters who choose to return their ballots by mail should send them no later than a week before Election Day to guarantee receipt. That’s particularly important in rural parts of the state, he said.
At least 579 ballots in Clark County had been flagged for signature verification, also known as curing. At least 92 of them had been fixed, with the rest of the voters having until six days after Election Day to get it done.
County Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo said last week that those voters would be contacted. She encouraged all voters to track their ballots at myballot.nv.gov and update their contact information at vote.nv.gov.
Early voting ends on June 5.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
