Election-Integrity Groups Urge SCOTUS To Ban Post-Election Ballots

Three leading election integrity groups urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to prohibit states from counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, warning that the practice violates federal law and undermines public trust in elections.

In a new amicus curiae brief filed Thursday afternoon, the Honest Elections Project, Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, and the Center for Election Confidence backed the Republican National Committee and Mississippi Republican Party, urging the justices to enforce a uniform deadline requiring all ballots in federal elections to be received by the close of polls on Election Day.

“Counting votes that are received after Election Day is not only illegal, it damages public trust in the democratic process,” Honest Elections Project executive director Jason Snead said. “The Supreme Court should take this opportunity to resolve this issue now, before voters head to the polls in the next election.”

At issue in Watson v. Republican National Committee is a Mississippi statute allowing absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive up to five business days later. Attorneys representing Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson and Attorney General Lynn Fitch, both Republicans, have argued that the state has the right, via its own laws, to regulate and manage certain aspects of federal elections, including the receipt of mail-in ballots and counting them after Election Day.