Republican National Committee v. Aguilar
The Nevada Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a denial of a preliminary injunction that sought to stop the practice of counting as valid mail-in ballots that lack a postmark date but arrive by the statutory deadline. State law mandates that ballots for which the “date of the postmark cannot be determined” must arrive by 5:00 p.m. on the third day after the election.
Plaintiffs, including the Republican National Committee and the Donald Trump campaign, argue that the secretary of state’s policy of treating the lack of any visible postmark on a ballot as an “indeterminate postmark” goes against the plain language of the statute. They also argue the policy constitutes improper rulemaking under the Nevada Administrative Procedure Act. A lower court denied the request for a preliminary injunction, finding that the plaintiffs did not establish a likelihood of success on the merits because, among other reasons, they lack standing. The lower court also noted that the plaintiffs’ readings of the statute “would lead to rejection of timely mail ballots — an absurd and unconstitutional outcome that prevents accurate counting of votes.”
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State Court Oral Arguments to Watch for in October
Issues on the dockets include mail-in voting, line-item vetoes, and life-without-parole sentences.