I’ll say it again: I only like mail in ballots for a limited use, such as being out of state, like with college students. Out of country. Certain people that utterly just cannot get to the polling place. And people can mail them in a month before the election. Things happen in the last month. But, what if the ballots are showing up after election day?
SCOTUS conservatives signal readiness on curbing late-arriving mail ballots
The Supreme Court on Monday offered sharp ideological differences in considering a Mississippi election law that allows for the counting of mail-in ballots received after Election Day — a high-stakes court fight that could have significant implications for the November midterm elections, and determining control of the new Congress.
Justices heard roughly two hours of oral arguments in the case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, centered on a 2024 lawsuit brought against Mississippi’s state law that allows for the counting of mail-in ballots received up to five days after the election, so long as they are postmarked by or before Election Day.
Mississippi is one of 14 states — as well as the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories — that currently allow for the counting of late-arriving mail-in ballots, so long as the ballots are postmarked by or before Election Day.
During oral arguments, justices grappled with whether federal election-day statutes preempt various state laws, and sought to clarify what “the election” means when it comes to the actual casting and receiving of ballots.
In fact, federal law, 2 U.S. Code § 7 passed in 1845, which established the specific date of federal elections, being the “The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year, is established as the day for the election…” Not a week after the election. There is no provision in the Constitution to mail anything in. Votes should be counted on election day, just like in most of the 1st World
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett could be the deciding votes on the matter, and used their time to ask tough questions to lawyers for both sides.
“If Election Day is the voting and taking, then it has to be that day,” Roberts noted. He also questioned whether the interpretation of “Election Day” could impact early voting, asking lawyers whether their logic “requires a different consideration” for early ballots.
“Is there any limit to that? Fill out a ballot… and drop it off two weeks before?”
Sounds right. Election day should be election day. Make it a federal holiday.
Justice Samuel Alito pointed to concerns that “confidence in election outcomes can be seriously undermined” when results are delayed, which was echoed later by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“If the apparent winner the morning after the election ends up losing due to late arriving ballots, charges of a rigged election could explode,” Kavanaugh noted.
Or, even when all these ballots start showing up the next day, and they all seem to go for Democrats
Gorsuch pressed lawyers on various hypothetical questions, including how far states could go in pushing their own deadlines for accepting mail-in ballots, should the Supreme Court side with Mississippi in the case.
“If we were to rule against you, is there anything that would limit a state from allowing a receipt by election officials up until the day of the next Congress?” Gorsuch asked at one point during arguments.
Roberts is the wild card, but, I think we can expect the rest of the Republicans on the court to rule to disallow mail in ballots showing up after election day.
Forget groundhogs and their weather predictions. Now, fellow critters ? beavers ? are actually doing their part to combat climate change, one dam at a time, a 
A loosely circular driveway sweeps through the White House grounds, just below the beloved South Portico of the mansion. Its shape echoes a larger park, known as the Ellipse, which connects the president’s home to the National Mall. It also mirrors the curving pathways of nearby Lafayette Square, on the north side of the complex.
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs lost to the Virginia Cavaliers in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament on Saturday. The Iowa Hawkeyes, the home team, also beat the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights in the second game. Beyond the basketball game itself, something else caught my eye about the games yesterday. By the end of the Georgia -Virginia game, the court temperature was above 80 degrees Fahreheit. The commentators remarked several times about the heat, and it was clear that coaches, players, and fans were also impacted. There is a lesson in plain view from this game.
What began as a social media post from President Trump on Saturday has grown quickly into a full-scale plan to deploy ICE agents to U.S. airports.
President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to send federal immigration agents to airports across the country on Monday if Democrats don’t agree to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, now approaching five weeks.
