‘This failure is on USPS’: Dozens of rural Nevada mail ballots discovered after primary

More than 30 mail ballots cast in Nevada’s June primary election were not counted because they were delivered to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office instead of the Lyon County Clerk-Treasurer’s Office, despite all of them having the correct county address.

The ballots were sent by voters before Election Day but were later marked as undeliverable and not counted, according to state and local election officials.

Lyon County Clerk-Treasurer Staci Lindberg’s office was notified Monday after the secretary of state’s office received an envelope containing the ballots. The envelope was later returned to Lyon County, where election officials conducted a certified count and confirmed it contained 32 ballots — 24 from Dayton and eight from Fernley.

The office said the ballots would not have changed the outcome of any race in the primary, but they are seeking answers about the delivery failure.

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar said his office is investigating the incident.

“The ballots had the correct address on them, but for some reason were flagged as undeliverable by the United States Postal Service (USPS), and delivered to our office weeks after the Primary election,” Aguilar said Thursday in a written statement to The Nevada Independent.

“Election officials sent the ballots in a timely manner and voters cast them well in advance of Election Day; this failure is on USPS,” he said.

USPS said it has been working with Nevada election officials since learning of the issue earlier this week.

“The Postal Service takes these matters very seriously, and we are working diligently to ensure this type of incident does not happen again in the future,” the agency said in a statement to The Indy on Monday.

Lyon County officials said they do not know why the ballots were marked as undeliverable.

“The envelopes were marked undeliverable as addressed; however, they were addressed correctly to the Lyon County Clerk/Treasurer’s Office, which has operated from the same location for more than 30 years and is open during normal business hours,” Lindberg’s office said in a statement to The Nevada Independent.

The office added that the incident was the most significant mail delivery issue it has encountered. It has documented more than 200 mail-related problems in the county since 2023.

The office also said it has asked for assistance from Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-NV) office and Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus ( R-Wellington).

Titus told The Nevada Independent on Thursday that officials are “still unraveling the information” and that the incident raises “concerns on multiple levels.”

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

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This story was originally published by The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.