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April Corbin Girnus, Nevada Current
The Trump campaign and its Republican allies on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging Nevada’s ballot receipt deadline.
Nevada law allows for mail ballots postmarked on Election Day to be accepted and counted if they are received by county election officials within four days. This year, Election Day is Nov. 5, meaning ballots postmarked on or before that date must be accepted and counted if they are received by election offices by 5 p.m. on Nov. 9.
Plaintiffs in the new lawsuit argue that practice violates federal law and as a result “valid, timely ballots are dilated by untimely, invalid ballots.” They are asking the court to block the counting of any mail ballots received after Election Day..
The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Trump’s reelection campaign, the Republican National Committee, the Nevada Republican Party and Donald J. Szymanski, a Nevada voter. Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, Clark County Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo and Washoe County Registrar of Voters Cari-Ann Burgess are named as defendants, as are the county clerks for Clark and Washoe.
Aguilar, in a statement provided by his office, said Nevada’s elections are “some of the most secure, transparent, and accessible elections in the country” and that voting by mail is a key component of accessibility.
“Our office will not comment on ongoing litigation,” his statement continued, “but I hope the RNC is putting as much time and energy into educating voters on how to participate in elections as they put into suing the state of Nevada.”
Nevada Democrats were quick to call the lawsuit baseless. Nevada State Democratic Party Executive Director Hilary Barrett said in a statement the lawsuit is “yet another tactic to undermine democracy and disenfranchise thousands of Nevada voters by limiting when ballots can be accepted — even when postmarked by Election Day.”
The ballot receipt deadline lawsuit is one of three Republicans are pursuing in Nevada. The others are challenging a state law protecting election workers and its voter roll maintenance policy.
Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on Facebook and Twitter.
