BREAKING: DNC Counters Republican Attempts to Outlaw Most Mail and Early Voting 

If Republicans succeed, mail and early voting could be in jeopardy nationwide

Today, the DNC opposed the RNC’s challenge to Nevada’s law that allows mail ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within four days of the election to be counted.

This challenge, which the Republicans already lost at the trial court level and have now appealed, is not just about the receipt deadline but is an effort to lay the legal groundwork to challenge all early and mail voting – a grave threat to the rights of working people and to military voters and their families.

Today, the DNC filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit explaining that the trial court was right to dismiss the RNC’s case after it failed to prove it was harmed by Nevada’s mail ballot receipt deadline, and outlining that Nevada Republicans are just plain wrong on the law. The DNC is taking nothing for granted in this case, especially after Republicans won a similar case before a conservative panel of Trump-appointed judges on the Fifth Circuit last fall. The DNC will continue to fight for voters’ rights to securely cast their ballots nationwide.

DNC Chair Ken Martin issued the following statement:

“The Republican stance on voting rights is to restrict, limit, and infringe. Now the MAGA-run RNC has set its sights on disenfranchising voters in Nevada – including working families and military voters. The DNC won’t let them. Today, we filed an opposition brief in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals asking the Court to shut down Republicans’ bogus case. Voting by mail and voting early is safe, secure, and empowers even more eligible voters to participate in our elections. That is a good thing for our democracy. The DNC will fight like hell for the rights of Nevadans and every other citizen to make sure their voices are heard and their votes are counted.”

DNC Vice Chair Artie Blanco issued the following statement:

“As a Nevadan, it concerns me deeply to see Republicans repeatedly attempting to throw out the lawful votes of my friends and neighbors. Make no mistake: the RNC knows damn well that these votes were cast legally and safely but they still want to throw them out because they are attempting a nationwide play to end early and mail voting once and for all. Nevadans deserve to have their voices heard and that’s why the DNC is defending Nevadans’ rights in the 9th Circuit of Appeals. Voting by mail is safe and secure and used extensively by active duty military. All Nevadans have the right to ensure their voices are heard – here and abroad.”

To view the DNC’s opposition brief click here. 

Additional background below on the DNC’s legal actions

  • The District Court properly dismissed this complaint, ruling that Republicans didn’t have standing to argue this case.
  • Nevada’s mail ballot system is consistent with longstanding election-administration practice. For more than a century, states have used frameworks like Nevada’s, which require ballots to be mailed by Election Day but permit them to be received and counted afterward.
    • Those statutes remain prevalent today—fifteen states and the District of Columbia allow election officials to count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day for all absentee voters, while a majority of states count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day for at least some voters, with members of the military being among the principal beneficiaries of this system.
  • Embracing Republicans’ radical theory would create a seismic shift in election administration, changing the way tens of millions of Americans vote in most states. There is no reason to disrupt this long-settled practice.
  • The DNC is asking the 9th Circuit to dismiss this lawsuit not only on standing but also on the merits.
  • If the 9th Circuit fails to dismiss the Republicans’ frivolous lawsuit, mail and early voting could be in jeopardy across the country.