Republicans are targeting late-arriving mail ballots ahead of the 2024 election

The fight over which mail ballots should be counted during this year’s general election is already well underway.

Many states allow ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted — even if they arrive after in-person voting has ended.

But the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee argue this practice violates federal law, and they’ve filed multiple lawsuits aiming to disqualify ballots that arrive after Election Day.

One key state where Republicans are challenging these return windows is Nevada, whose state lawmakers created a universal mail voting program in 2021.

The numbers of ballots at issue are substantial.

During the 2020 election, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in Nevada by about 33,500 votes.

In the 2022 midterms, in Clark County alone — the county where Las Vegas is — state officials say about 40,000 valid ballots came in after Election Day.

Nevada’s mail ballot program

Kerry Durmick — the Nevada state director of All Voting is Local, a group that advocates for expanding voting access — said the state’s absentee program has increased voter participation nearly across the board.

“If you're an active Nevada registered voter, you automatically receive a vote-by-mail ballot,” Durmick said. “So it's completely changed how our elections work and run.”

Durmick said every county in Nevada now runs a typical in-person election and automatically sends out mail ballots to all of its active voters.

Per state law, election officials can count mail ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day and are received by 5 p.m. on the fourth day after Election Day.

Durmick says Nevada lawmakers created this window for turning in a ballot in case there are issues with the Postal Service.

The