More Mail-In Ballots Were Rejected Than Margin Of Victory In Nevada Senate Race

A new report from the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) shows that more ballots were rejected than the margin of victory in Nevada’s contested US Senate race.

According to data from Nevada’s Secretary of State, 95,556 ballots were sent to undeliverable addresses, 8,036 were rejected by election officials, and 1.2 million ballots were never returned to be counted.

The Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto won the election by 7,928 votes, which is less than the 8,036 ballots rejected upon receipt by election officials.

To authenticate a ballot, Nevada performs signature verification by comparing signatures on file to those on return envelopes. However, human errors can affect the process, as was evident when a columnist tricked election officials into accepting six ballots with his signature this past midterm election season.

Nevada is one of eight states that conduct all elections through mail-in ballots. The state made mail-in voting a permanent law for all elections by then-Governor Steve Sisolak in 2021, after originally allowing a temporary expansion in 2020 over coronavirus concerns.

The PILF report highlights that mail-in elections have the potential to disenfranchise voters and waste taxpayer dollars. Nevada wasted over $2 million on ballots sent to wrong addresses or never returned to be counted. It also warns other states that are considering making the switch to mail-in elections.

“Mass-mail elections disenfranchise. Nevada can do a better job in reducing rejected ballots. Auto mass-mail will continue to waste money and disenfranchise voters until it is fixed,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams.

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