It is unknown how many games will be affected by the decision. Republicans noted that one county received 24 such votes in the primary election earlier this year. The court justices said that, in their view, the GOP had not presented any evidence that ballots without postmarks indicated fraud, that such ballots were more likely to come from a particular political party, or that the state failed to properly address voting concerns. security of ballot papers.

“The denial of timely mail-in ballots due to disruptions in the postal service is contrary to the strong public interest in exercising the right to vote,” the justices wrote in the main opinion. Twenty-two states and localities are counting late-arriving ballots, but Nevada is the only battleground state accepting ballots this late.

In August, the Republican National Committee attempted to appeal to a lower court in Nevada. to obstruct ballots were counted without postmarks, but the judge in that case said the RNC did not have standing to sue. The RNC then appealed to the state’s highest court, which expedited the case and heard arguments on October 8. Republicans also tried and failed to sue the state in federal court over the postmarks. The GOP has objected, but a decision is unlikely to come before Nov. 5.