Nevada counts mail ballots that arrive after Election Day, but they make up a small share of the vote

What happened

With election season under way, The Nevada Independent published a fact check in its Spanish-language edition on Nevada's practice of counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day. The outlet reported that the practice is a frequent target of false claims that the state's elections are rigged.

According to the outlet, two days after Election Day in 2022, Donald Trump claimed final results were unknown because the state wanted more time to cheat. Jim Marchant was the Republican candidate for secretary of state in 2022 and is running again this year. He said he lost because of cheating and pointed to a moment in the count when he was ahead.

The rules for late-arriving ballots

Deadlines after Election Day

The Nevada Independent reported that under Nevada law, a mail ballot postmarked by Election Day can be counted if it arrives before 5 p.m. on the Saturday after Election Day. Ballots with an unclear or missing postmark count if they arrive before 5 p.m. on the Friday after Election Day.

Where the rules came from

The deadlines followed a broad 2021 law, opposed by Republicans, that made permanent the expansion of mail voting put in place during the pandemic. In the 2020 election, ballots postmarked by Election Day could be counted if received within a week. The 2021 law shortened that window to four days.

Court challenges

During the 2024 cycle, Republicans lost state and federal lawsuits that sought to stop the counting of ballots received after Election Day. The outlet also noted that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this year that counting ballots after Election Day is legal, in a case over a similar Mississippi law.

How many ballots arrive late

The Nevada Independent reported that late-arriving ballots make up a small share of the total vote, though they can still swing close races. In the 2024 general election, nearly 9,500 Clark County ballots and 2,400 Washoe County ballots arrived after Election Day. That was less than 1 percent of all ballots cast in the two counties.

The numbers were higher in 2022. That year, about 40,000 Clark County ballots and 5,700 Washoe County ballots arrived after Election Day. Those ballots equaled 5.8 percent of all ballots received in Clark County and 2.9 percent in Washoe County.

Other reasons results take time

Election Day drop-offs

Accepting late ballots means the public waits longer for a complete picture. But the outlet stressed that a ballot counted after Election Day was not necessarily returned after Election Day. In the 2024 general election, results from 54,000 Clark County ballots dropped off on Election Day were not posted until the next day, which frustrated Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. That was more than five times the number of ballots that actually arrived after Election Day.

Waiting for the last voter

Nevada law also bars election officials from releasing results until the last person in line at a polling place on Election Day has voted. In the 2024 general election, the first results were posted around 10 p.m., the outlet reported. The Nevada Independent also reported no sign that Democrats, who control the Legislature, are interested in changing those laws.

Efforts to change the system

During the 2025 legislative session, Aguilar proposed giving local election offices more resources and backed a plan to expand drop box capacity before Election Day. According to The Nevada Independent, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed both. He said the first bill concentrated too much authority in the secretary of state's office and the second lacked enough security measures for drop boxes.

Republicans have also tried to tighten the deadlines. In 2023, Lombardo proposed requiring all mail ballots to arrive before polls close on Election Day, but the bill did not advance. In 2025, Republican state Sen. Lisa Krasner sponsored a bill that would have required mail ballots sent to an election clerk to be postmarked by the end of early voting and received before polls close. That bill also did not advance.

Before the 2025 session, Lombardo said he would consider a ballot initiative on the issue if lawmakers did not change the rules, but that never happened. For more background, see our earlier explainer on Nevada mail ballot rules and other election coverage.

What to watch next

• Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day this year can be counted if they arrive before 5 p.m. on the Saturday after Election Day.
• Ballots with an unclear or missing postmark will count only if they arrive before 5 p.m. on the Friday after Election Day.
• No results can be released on election night until the last voter in line at a polling place has voted.
• Jim Marchant, who blamed his 2022 loss on cheating, is again the Republican candidate for secretary of state this year.