We got us a champeenship fight at the United States Supreme Court tomorrow. At stake is whether Mississippi can accept mail-in ballots (absentees) after Election Day. Newsweek reported:
Watson v. Republican National Committee centers on whether Mississippi can count absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five business days later.... The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Mississippi’s Republican Party, as well as some voters, filed suit against Michael Watson, Mississippi’s secretary of state, over mail-in ballot rules in 2024, arguing they threatened election integrity. A federal trial court judge upheld the state law, which was later struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, arguing the state’s grace period conflicted with federal statutes. In Mississippi’s petition to the Supreme Court, the state argues the 5th Circuit’s ruling “defies statutory text, conflicts with this Court’s precedent, and—if left to stand—will have destabilizing nationwide ramifications.” Later in the filing, the state says: “The rule the Fifth Circuit adopted would require scrapping election laws in most States. About 30 States and the District of Columbia accept some ballots that are mailed by election day but received after that day.” Dozens of states, including Mississippi, allow mail-in ballots that were postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted if they were received within a certain amount of time. Mississippi accepts mail-in ballots from domestic, overseas and military voters within five business days of the election. The ruling would impact grace periods for around 30 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.... RNC Election Integrity Communications Director Ally Triolo, to Newsweek in an email statement Wednesday: “Watson v. Republican National Committee is a landmark case to affirm a simple principle: there is one Election Day, not election days. Federal law is clear that ballots must be received by Election Day to count. Allowing ballots to arrive after Election Day creates confusion, undermines voter confidence, and opens the door to fraud. The RNC is fighting to ensure our elections are secure.” The Brennan Center for Justice, in a January friend-of-the-court brief: “First, state grace periods help address the barriers that military and civilian overseas U.S. citizens face when it comes to voting. These voters might be deployed in a faraway combat zone or in a different state, or studying, working, preaching, or serving as a diplomat abroad. That means mailing a ballot is often the only way to exercise their right to vote. Since before the Civil War, states have developed voting processes like grace periods to accommodate the needs of military voters, their families, and other Americans living away from home. It would be egregious to now make it harder for them to vote.”The Wall Street Journal chimed in last week:
Mississippi suggests that once the U.S. Postal Service takes custody of any outstanding ballots, then the election’s winner is already determined, however long it takes the mail to arrive and the result to become clear. “An election occurs when the voters have cast their ballots,” the state says. “The voters have then chosen and their choice is conclusive: the election is over. An election thus does not depend on when ballots are received.” This is giving the reliability of the post office too much credit. In 2024 the National Association of Secretaries of State complained to the USPS that “officials in multiple states report receiving anywhere from dozens to hundreds of ballots 10 or more days after postmark.” Another flub is when ballots show up without any legible postmarks. Sometimes judges rule that if they arrive two or three days after Election Day, it can be simply presumed they were mailed on time. In a close election, the winner might turn on these kinds of postal hiccups and the ensuing litigation. Mississippi’s definition, that a vote is “cast” when it’s given to the USPS, creates a Schrödinger’s ballot box: The state might say the election is finished, but some candidate’s political career could be both alive and dead, depending on how much mail gets misdelivered that week or whether the postmark process malfunctioned. By the way, what makes the USPS so special? Mississippi’s position lacks a limiting principle, as the challengers to its late-ballot law explain. “A State could say that a ballot is timely cast once the voter hands it over to a family member or a party operative to deliver,” the Republican National Committee argues in its brief. Could states that allow ballot harvesting offer those crews a two-day grace period, as long as they quit collecting on Election Day? Rest of article.
Stay tuned.
27 comments:
there should be no mail-in ballots at all. period. there should be no ballot drop-off boxes. there should be no ballot harvesting either. absentee ballots allowed for very few specific reasons only. if voting is as important and fundamental a right as democrats would claim it to be, then tell your people to show up in person, and vote on voting day. with an id.
it shouldn't take any precinct, anywhere, days to count their ballots either, and the count should continue until done. no closing up the building and starting again the next day. there should always be an equal number of representatives from each party in the room at all times counting ballots.
anybody that disagrees with these common sense voting suggestions, is somebody that wants to cheat. prove me wrong.
I'm sure I'm the only one confused (after reading all of that).
Is the Republican hierarchy agreeing with democrats that ballots should be counted regardless of date received as long as postmark is on or before election day. That's odd.
Our Secretary of State, a Republican himself, is at odds with his handlers at the national level?
When certain people try to make voting as difficult as possible, you have to wonder if they want to live in a democracy or an autocracy...
There has never been any credible evidence of widespread voter fraud in the US, period. Until the 2024 swing states are properly audited.
Given we are in an election year and Primaries are taking place around the country, is this a decision the Supreme Court would rush out or will they wait until June to release the ruling?
In reality the postal service is unreliable but there is still the legal presumption that it functions reliably. The IRS will accept a filing as timely based on the postmark date. Court's rely on process service issued by mail and the postmarks thereon. Most deadlines will accept postmark dates rather than actual delivery unless so specified. There will always be efforts to limit the right to vote depending on political party affiliation. Democrats generally want as many voters as possible Republicans will generally want to limit the numbers. It's just strategy based on numbers not democratic principles. Both just want to maintain power.
The state officials are pretty much obligated to defend the law as passed by the elected legislature, whether they personally agree or not with the law. They should put forward the best argument to be made for the law, and let the Court decide if it is enough.
Many things have a deadline, such as bills. If it doesn’t arrive by the deadline then too bad for you, and you don’t get a grace period based on the date it was mailed. The same should apply to mail in voting if this option is available. If you are worried about your vote counting then find a way to get to the polls.
4:44, Nobody can prove your comment wrong because it merely states your opinion of the way elections "should" operate, and opinions are not facts.
Yes, it will be terrible to learn the democrats cheated, and still lost.
@ 5:12
You need to pay attention.
AT LEAST twice a week for the past two years I have read reports about indictments and convictions for vote fraud.
This entire litigation is unwarranted
Per Obama
“ Vote fraud is fake news”
Why do we allow the military to mail in to be voted late? They are mostly for the Dems. We need to stop the military from voting.
5:12 - If you don't believe vote fraud is rampant in Mississippi, you've never been in the 2nd Congressional District on election day.
anybody that disagrees with these common sense voting suggestions, is somebody that wants to cheat. prove me wrong.
March 22, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Hey Prove Me Wrong don't guess you've ever been stationed in Afghanistan & have to rely on the people at the courthouse to have the proper forms to send you & you send them back & then they send you a ballot & then you send it back all the while relying on USPS to get it done in a timely manner...Huh Bub?
March 22, 2026 at 10:30 PM; no, i've never been stationed anywhere, and your reading comprehension, and understanding of the difference between mail-in ballots and absentee ballots, doesn't seem to be too good, Bub. there's a difference between the two. i even said absentee ballots should only be allowed for a very few specific reasons; and military personnel stationed overseas would be at the top of that very short list of reasons.
when i refer to mail-in ballots, i'm referring to the ballots that are just sent, in masse, to everyone without any request for one. multiple ballots sent to the same address, some sent to an address where a house doesn't exist, and ballots sent to dead people, and people that don't even live at that address anymore. that process needs to be outlawed nationwide for every election; local, state, federal.
the absentee ballot process, where the voter actually requested a ballot, due to illness, home bound, or out of town on election day, seemed to work just fine, and much harder to cheat.
however, the military shouldn't have to go through either process, though. there's no reason a voting machine couldn't be delivered to every base so the soldiers could vote just like we do. the results tabulated and emailed to the pentagon, or somewhere else.
there are changes that can be made, but i still stand by my suggestions as being common sense voting reforms to cut down on election fraud. it's in everybody's best interest to eliminate as much fraud as possible. anybody that thinks there's no fraud is lying to themselves.
The IRS was, and has never been - in the U.S. Constitution, and cannot be used as a "federal" example. No one is limiting anyone's right to vote....they're just clarifying, one must be prepared to vote on Election Day, and Election Day only - and then make accomodations. Sheesh, some cultures walk 5 miles in searing heat to cast their vote with pride.
Mail in voting works. Early voting works.
Given that it can take three weeks for first class mail in Jackson to travel 5 miles and in many instances the mail never makes it, how many weeks will the election results be delayed to count ballots that may have been mailed on election day?
5:01, there are the Uniparty PseudoRepublicans, and there are MAGA Republicans. The Uniparty ones, obviously, are in favor of rigged elections, and so think that all sorts of excesses regarding mail-in ballots, are just fine-&-dandy.
So you don't want Mississippians working elsewhere for Entergy or in our military to be sure their vote counts? And, we know you don't really want women to vote. That's why the married women proving their birth AGAIN with a birth certificate AND marriage license and our Passport won't be enough? Hmm? How about my NSDAR certificate.
I'm ready for a do over, only those who can prove they were here for our American Revolution can vote!
Military only should be allowed. I personally saw workers in Bolton precinct ask voters what their religion was many times. The workers only asked white voters.
Anybody can’t drag his ass to the polls and mark an X on a paper ballot should never have a vote anyway. I’m given to understand that mine is the hard-ass position, though.
"when i refer to mail-in ballots, i'm referring to the ballots that are just sent, in masse, to everyone without any request for one"
This case is about Mississippi law. Mississippi does not allow for such "mail-in" voting. Only absentee voting is allowed in Mississippi.
We have one of the nation's most limited exceptions to in-person voting. But since we're in the Fifth Circuit, and the MSGOP agreed to sign on to the case, this is where it was brought.
As I understand it, the RNC and MSGOP have actually argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that all ballots much be cast AND COUNTED on a single election day. If my understanding is correct, this is a major assault on elections, not just a "common sense" approach. Having to count all ballots on a single day is not common sense.
March 23, 2026 at 9:01 AM; not sure if you're responding to me, but i'll respond to you. your reading comprehension doesn't seem to be too good either.
i already addressed individuals out of town and the military. folks out of town can vote absentee, not mail-in. again, there's a difference. military can vote on a voting machine on base like the rest of us. no need for them to go through the bullshit process of requesting a ballot and mailing stuff back and forth.
and i never said, or insinuated, that women shouldn't vote. i do admit that i didn't know what a NSDAR certificate was, so i looked it up. it doesn't appear to have a photo, so that won't work as id anyway.
as for your last sentence, no one alive now was around for the American Revolution, so, based on your snarky comment, then no one can vote.
Since the Constitution leaves it to eh states to run elections, I don't see how that could happen on a military base in a foreign country.
And allowing the military to run elections in any way, shape, or form, is a terrible idea.
Which state law says all ballots must be cast on election day? Is that in the constitution? Just askin'.
5:12, there should be zero voter fraud, widespread or not. If elections can’t be secure and only citizens in this country with proper ID, what’s the point of voting?
Post a Comment