Add The California Post on Google The Supreme Court missed an opportunity to bring integrity to American elections this week. Counting ballots that arrive after Election Day, as California does, only increases distrust.
In Watson v. RNC, a 5-4 majority held that federal statutes allow states to have mail-in ballots arrive after Election Day. Late ballots still get counted.
This decision further threatens confidence in elections with extended ballot tabulation periods. COVID is over, but its legacy lingers.
An “OFFICIAL MAIL BALLOT DROPBOX” sign in multiple languages at a voting poll. Michael Nagle Watson was a case interpreting a statute. The good news is Congress can fix a statute.
Election Day will remain election weeks until Congress fixes this.
Mississippi is primed to amend its law, but Secretary of State Michael Watson brought the issue to the Supreme Court in hopes of resolving the matter nationwide.
North Dakota is another example of a state that fixed the problem. The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) sued North Dakota because it accepted ballots for 13 days after an election.
Not much in the law needs to change. Amending 3 USC Section 1 and the other counterparts will solve the problem. There is no need to hang other issues on this fix.
With late ballot deadlines, states can wallow in their own uncertainty. If California wants to stay a mess, it can stay a mess.
Giving the United States Postal Service outsized influence in elections was always a terrible idea. The Postal Service has an aspirational goal of 95% success for delivery of political mail on time. That is the same as a 5% failure rate.
Data show mail ballots simply disappear and never come back.
What happens next? Expect more pressure on state courts to loosen mail voting and election administration procedures to fit the left’s political tactics. For now, they can extend their election timelines, stretching results by as long as three weeks.
California keeps its status as the national problem child for election administration.
Not content with the nation’s loosest election laws, the LA City Council proposed a November ballot initiative to allow non-citizens (including illegal immigrants) to vote. Thankfully, there was enough public outcry that the proposal was withdrawn. But it will likely be back.
Interestingly, at least one part of the California election apparatus works the way normal elections should: The special vote on raising streetlight fees required mail-in ballots to arrive by Election Day. But that was a separate process, governed by separate laws and limited to property owners. (They rejected the fee hikes overwhelmingly.)
As far as the Supreme Court ruling goes, expect more lawsuits. The decision was a narrow one, and broader questions remain about absentee voting, election security, and how the electoral process may be abused. The decision also leaves room for the executive and legislative branches to explore further safeguards.
Elections will never be flawless, but we should look to improve the process. That’s the difference between election integrity advocates and those who oppose them. Many progressive structural changes adopted by the Left over the last 20 years are now embedded. We don’t have to accept them as “normal” or “the way that state does things.”
Florida, for example, remains the nation’s leader in executing elections with integrity by processing mail ballots promptly on election night. Requiring them to arrive by Election Day gives Floridians and the nation confidence in knowing the outcome of the election there.
Elections in Florida are over on election night. Despite the ruling, it is time to change the statutes so the country can get to sleep on election night.
J. Christian Adams is the President and General Counsel for the Public Interest Legal Foundation. He is also a commissioner on the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights and a former Justice Department lawyer.
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