Nevada mail ballots require postmark on or before Election Day to be counted

The Nov. 5 election is underway, but there may not be a declared winner by day’s end, if recent history is any prologue.

The 2020 election was called for President Joe Biden four days after voters cast their ballots. The 2000 election was called for George W. Bush 36 days after polls closed — and only after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a Florida recount.

Yet, public expectations can be high: One social media post expressed dismay that Nevada election officials will "count ballots three days past the election," saying that would allow them to know how many ballots "they need in order to push Kamala Harris over the top."

"Oh, and they don’t even have to be postmarked to be counted," the Nov. 4 post’s caption said.

The post, which came from the "Elsa Kurt Show" podcast’s Facebook account, was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

But it misunderstands the Nevada ballot county process.

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Threads posts

stated on October 26, 2024 in a Threads post

Four Florida counties had “zero results” Oct. 26, and “something underhanded might be happening.”

Yes, Nevada will count mail ballots even after Election Day, but to be counted, the ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by 5 p.m. on the fourth day after Election Day, the Nevada secretary of state’s website said.

(Screenshot from Facebook)

There is no state or federal law that says vote counting must stop the same day polls close, PolitiFact has reported.

States have different deadlines for when mail ballots must be received and counted: 

Thirty states require mail ballots to be received by Election Day. Eighteen states, including Nevada, will count ballots after Election Day if they are postmarked on or before that day.

Nevada’s election must be certified at the local and county level within 10 days of the election and at the state level by the fourth Tuesday of November. Although media outlets such as The Associated Press may call a race for a candidate on Election Day or soon after, results aren’t official until states certify their results.

The claim that Nevada doesn’t require mail ballots to be postmarked to be counted after Election Day is False.