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Posted on 03/26/2026 7:47:34 AM PDT by MtnClimber
The New York Times reported from the U.S. Supreme Court today that the Mississippi Elections Case would likely be overturned: Justices Appear Poised to Reject Mississippi Law on Late-Arriving Ballots.
Politico had a different headline: Supreme Court worries Trump's attack on late ballots could also threaten early voting.
Both showed how concerned the Left is about retaining provisions in numerous states that allow mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day to be counted and processed.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 17 states and territories, including California, Maryland, New York, and D.C., are overly generous in accepting mail-in ballots after Election Day.
In Illinois, ballots must be received up to 14 days after the election if postmarked on or before Election Day. Maryland and D.C. allow for a ten-day grace period.
Ultra-conservative Mississippi joined the cabal of 17 states during the COVID pandemic. It passed a law allowing absentee/mail-in ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive up to 5 business days after Election Day.
Our editorial, published after the November 2022 midterms, decried this policy in the name of racial justice. These states have deviated from the 30 states - including liberal states such as Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont - that require mail-in ballots to be received by the close of polls on Election Day.
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard a challenge against the Mississippi law. In Watson v. Republican National Committee, Mississippi argued that the law was reasonable and did not violate federal law. The challengers, however, maintained that federal law preempts state "grace periods" for late-arriving mail ballots, requiring election officials to receive those ballots on or before Election Day.
The idea of postmarked mail has a tradition of acceptance by government agencies. Tax returns must be postmarked before 11:59 p.m. on April 15. It is customary for postal employees to stand at mailboxes on April 15 to postmark these returns, so taxpayers are assured their returns were accepted before the deadline.
However, ballots are not tax returns. Taxpayers do not particularly care when their returns are processed; voters do. We want the results announced the same night, and not have the winner flipped after counting late-arriving mail-in ballots.
In the 2020 election, President Trump was leading on election night, with states having counted both early votes and election-day ballots. However, as the results of late mail-in ballots trickled in, three states that were too close to call gradually turned away from Trump. Joseph Biden won the presidency by a narrow 44,000-vote victory in those three states - Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.
The oral arguments produced interesting remarks from all sides.
Paul D. Clement, arguing for the challengers, including the Republican National Committee, raised points we have made in our editorials over the years, including the one that universal mail-in voting and lenient ballot-processing laws threaten election integrity.
"All agree that elections for federal office have to end on the day of the election specified by Congress, and all agree that you can't have an election unless you receive ballots, and there must be some deadline for ballot receipt. Nonetheless, Mississippi insists that ballots can trickle in days or even weeks after Election Day. That position is wrong as a matter of text, precedent, history, and common sense."
Mississippi Solicitor General Scott G. Stewart (arguing for the petitioner) stated that "The Election Day statutes adopt a simple rule: States must make a final choice of officers by Election Day. That is the plain meaning of an election." In effect, he was saying that state rules trump federal election laws, and the liberal justices repeatedly agreed with him.
Justice Samuel Alito echoed our concerns about election integrity when he said: "Confidence in election outcomes can be seriously undermined if the apparent outcome of the election on the day after the polls close is radically flipped by the acceptance, later, of a big stash of ballots."
Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with Justice Alito: "If the apparent winner the morning after the election ends up losing due to late-arriving ballots, charges of a rigged election could explode."
Chief Justice John Roberts (probing the implications) said: "If Election Day is the voting and taking, then it has to be that day."
Justice Amy Coney Barrett (pressing on historical practices and early voting) challenged the idea that receipt/counting could extend beyond Election Day without issue, highlighting that past processes completed verification and acceptance on Election Day.
Justice Elena Kagan made an academic point appropriate for a law school class: "How is it that you're not taking issue with early voting?... When I early vote, I'm not doing that [casting and receiving on Election Day]." The point did not make sense because ballots received before Election Day would still get counted on Election Day. The case concerned only ballots that arrived after Election Day.
The conservative justices appeared particularly skeptical of the grace period, focusing on the need for a single, final Election Day to preserve trust and avoid post-election flips or perceptions of fraud. Liberal justices pushed back on potential disenfranchisement and consistency with other voting practices. The full transcript is available on the Supreme Court's website for deeper reading.
A decision is expected in June or early July, in time to affect the 2026 elections.
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A possible step in the right direction. Watch the democRATs melt down over this.
As Florida 2000 proved, the counting of ballots does not finish on Election night.
They can do anything they want on local elections.
I also think that Ranked voting is illegal for Federal Elections...
Justice William H. Rehnquist once wrote an opinion for the SCOTUS that, “The Constitution entitles a criminal defendant to a fair trial, not a perfect one”. The same is true of our elections: they need to be fair, not perfect. What the Rats are doing with the “every ballot must be counted” nonsense, regardless if whether that ballot was lawfully cast, is to claim they are trying to make elections perfect as cover for shamelessly rigging them. It needs to stop, and it’s past six years since the 2020 Big Steal, which was enabled by a do nothing SCOTUS.
I have the same basic problem, I don’t know when to stop counting my income and deductions. This causes me to file months or years late. It’s not that I’m not trying to get the taxes filed but almost everyday another letter, email, phone call or just a dream arrives which delays the whole process. And don’t talk to me about a recount, we will be here for ever……..
BALLOT RETURN ENVELOPE
If you need to send this ballot in in November, please call the Ratville Police Department at 518-555-1212 for ballot pickup or drop it off in person at any voting location in Rat County.
Title 3 § 2 prior to December 29, 2022:
3 U.S. Code § 2. Failure to make choice on prescribed day
Whenever any State has held an election for the purpose of choosing electors, and has failed to make a choice on the day prescribed by law, the electors may be appointed on a subsequent day in such a manner as the legislature of such State may direct.
The Democrats repealed this statute after the January 6 2001 protests. Their bill did two things:
If SCOTUS wanted to take full advantage of this case to restore proper election law doctrine, here is what it should recognize and then do:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of Chusing Senators.
In summary, Congress can override state election law regarding manner, time and place for House elections, but only manner and time regarding Senate elections.
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
Article II Section 1 Clause 3:
The Congress may determine the time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
In summary, Congress can only override the date and time of Electoral College elections.
In this case, a state can extend the mail-in ballot deadline for state elections, but the Constitution gives Congress the power to choose the time of Electoral College elections, which is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Via the Article VI Supremacy clause, states cannot change this date for the Electoral College. This means that extending mail-in ballot receipt for presidential elections is not allowed by the states.
Similarly, Congress has the power to set the time for House and Senate elections, which is now the same as Electoral College elections. Again, states have no power to extend the Congressionally established time via late mail-in ballot receipt.
-PJ
When does it end? Call me a crazy optimist. But I’m still hoping enough late ballots arrive to push the Carter-Ford election to Gerald Ford.
2 U.S. Code § 7 - Time of election
The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year, is established as the day for the election, in each of the States and Territories of the United States, of Representatives and Delegates to the Congress commencing on the 3d day of January next thereafter.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/2/7
Other countries seem to have no problem running their national elections, though most use paper ballots and require voter IDs. Mail in voting is ridiculous as it is easily subject to fraud. Other than US military forces stationed abroad or at sea there should be no mail in type ballots. Absentee ballots must be cast in person in a special polling place subject to time limits and of course require a picture ID. I’m all for banning electronic voting machines all together.
CRS
As travel and communication methods became faster in the 19th century, potential manipulation and fraud concerns grew due to different election days in different states: “The 34-day period during which elections could be held prolonged excitement and provided time for more intrigue.” Members of the House, when debating a bill in 1844 that would set a uniform presidential Election Day across the country, declared the goal was “to guard against frauds in the elections of President and Vice President.”
Why Was the First Tuesday After the First Monday in November Chosen as Election Day?
The timing of Election Day means citizens cast their ballots for President and Vice President roughly one month before the formal vote of the Electoral College.
One researcher noted that in a mostly agrarian society, holding elections late in the year avoided the harvest season and the onset of harsh weather. “Early November fell, Goldilocks-like, between the end of the autumnal harvest and the grip of winter.”
Voting on Tuesday, rather than Monday, sidestepped religious complications. “Given that voters from remote areas had to travel overnight to poll, it did not seem appropriate to require them to travel on Sunday, the Sabbath for most Christians.”
Lawmakers prevented Election Day from falling on November 1 by selecting the first Tuesday after the first Monday, which “took into consideration the fact that many merchants used the first day of the month to tally their books from the previous month.”
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46413
Men in the U.S. who are between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to register with the Selective Service System.
Male U.S. citizens must register within 30 days of their 18th birthday.
Male immigrants, if they have turned 18 or are younger than 26 years old, must register within 30 days of their arrival date in the U.S.
https://www.operationmilitarykids.org/military-draft-explained/
I posted here as “Hanging Chad” for a while,
but I somehow managed to lock myself out!
On Kagan’s point about early voting - I am a skeptic of it as well.
Voting is decision making, on best evidence before you vote. If voting can be as early as ten days before an election, does that assume that no possible events/news regarding the candidates can take place in the last ten days before the election. And if there was a major news item with large possibility of changing minds in the last ten days, how will those that voted early feel - (a) that they were stupid, or (b) that they were cheated and should not have been allowed to vote early.
It really is not that simple. States elect the President not the popular vote. So the states set the standards for that election. Most of the time when counting is allowed to continue well past election day the states are violating their own laws based on a judge ruling in favor of those who sought the longer count.
That U.S. code applies to the choosing of electors not to the count of the popular vote.
There is no way to be sure on mail in ballots with the additional hands that handle them. And until the questions are answered and severe penalties for the people who cheat on the elections are treated to the severest penalties, enough to stop them from doing it, then it will continue.
Justice is based upon two theories of handling people who break the law:
penalties and rehabilitation.
Cheating, or perjuring on an election, is not a capital crime and many have tried to cheat all over the country. It equates to cheating on your taxes being accepted as a victimless crime. But it is a crime nonetheless, so it must be dealt with as it costs the voters a say in how their lifestyles and money is handled. So, if they are caught, make it harsh.
wy69
My point is that the Constitution, backed by the US Code, defines the dates for federal elections. State law cannot override federal law.
The problem is that the state has bundled state elections, Congressional elections, and the Electoral College elections on the same ballot. When the state tries to extend the deadline for mail-in ballots, they have the authority to only extend deadlines for state elections. By doing what they did, they forced the federal elections to follow the same deadlines as the state elections, which is where they ran afoul of federal deadline laws.
-PJ
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