Supremes: Where’s the Trust in Mail in Voting?

Letter to Romans: Confidence in election results is key to US Sup Ct’s skepticism of mailed in ballots received after Election Day. Not that the Justices during an oral argument bought No. 47’s view many are fraudulent. But they hinted, states taking weeks to certify results stinks.

It was Justice Samuel Alito, the WSJ noted, who especially expressed the concern that many voters no longer trust the results of elections as 14 states now accept ballots that are received from the mail man after Election Day. “Confidence in election outcomes can be seriously undermined if the apparent outcome of the election on the day after the polls close is radically flipped by the acceptance later of a big stash of ballots,” Alito opined. In the 2024 general election, the newspaper noted, “more than 750,000 ballots were mailed by Election Day & arrived shortly afterward in those states with general postelection grace periods.” And even though those ballots given a statutory grace period before counting typically ranged below 3% of all votes cast in the lenient states, it’s taken several days if not weeks for officials to certify let alone call some outcomes. Justice Brett Kavanaugh echoed worries about an “appearance of fraud,” and asked, “Wouldn’t it make more sense to take account … of that concern?”

Ironically, it’s red state Mississippi’s mail in voting law being challenged in the soon to be decided case. The state argues regardless of how long it takes to count timely mailed ballots, voters made their choice. As the plaintiffs in the case argue, however, “this is giving the reliability of the post office too much credit.” In 2024 the Nat’l Assn of Secretaries of State said “officials in multiple states report receiving dozens to hundreds of ballots 10 or more days after postmark,” while some ballots “show up without any legible postmarks.” And what about the RNC’s argument against “ballot harvesting” laws that trusts harvesters with a 2-day grace period? Didn’t naïve mobster Vince LaRocca accuse Sister Act’s repentant Nun Deloris of duplicity in Sister Act bitterly shouting, “I trusted you!”

Davd Soul