In Watson v. Republican National Committee, the Supreme Court has voted 5-4 to uphold a lower court ruling that allows Mississippi to count ballots received within five business days of the election if they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
Jason Snead of the Honest Elections Project (HEP) has been a leading voice in the conservative movement surrounding this case and says, "This was a COVID-type contingency that became law, and now it's part of the way that Mississippi conducts its elections."
He thinks "it's long past time" for every state — particularly red states — to get rid of these late ballot laws, and he commends those like Kansas, Utah, and Ohio that have.
But Snead calls this Supreme Court decision a deep disappointment and says it misses the mark.
"Federal law is clear," he noted in a statement criticizing the decision. "All ballots must be received by Election Day to be counted. As Justice Alito makes clear in his dissent, watching ballots trickle in after Election Day and flip races does nothing but damage public trust in our system of government."
"This was the best opportunity to put an end to that nonsense in all of the states where it is practiced, which are mostly blue states that have no incentive to actually do things correctly," Snead submits.
He says the Court missed a major opportunity to reinforce election integrity and instead sided with the kind of election chaos that was recently witnessed in California.
Ahead of oral arguments in this case, HEP filed a joint amicus brief at the Supreme Court and released a backgrounder as well as polling that showed, among other things, 83% of Americans agree that ballots should be received by Election Day.
Snead says HEP will continue to fight across the country for state laws that put a stop to late ballots and ensure that voting ends on Election Day.
