{"id":2602537,"date":"2026-05-14T07:50:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-could-do-the-funniest-thing-and-mandate-a-single-election-day-at-jay-jones-request\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T07:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:56:18","slug":"scotus-could-do-the-funniest-thing-and-mandate-a-single-election-day-at-jay-jones-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-could-do-the-funniest-thing-and-mandate-a-single-election-day-at-jay-jones-request\/","title":{"rendered":"VA Dems Say Elections Must Be One Day. SCOTUS Should Agree"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fscotus-could-do-the-funniest-thing-and-mandate-a-single-election-day-at-jay-jones-request%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2602537&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article argues that Virginia Democratic officials-especially Attorney general jay Jones-have undermined their own party\u2019s gerrymandering strategy by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to treat Virginia\u2019s extended voting period as effectively a single \u201cElection day.\u201d It points out that a Virginia constitutional referendum about congressional portrayal was struck down after voters had already entered early voting before the constitutionally required second legislative passage and intervening election.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of accepting that ruling, Jones reportedly claims federal law fixes elections for Congress to a single day in November, and that Virginia\u2019s longer election window should still be understood as one-day \u201celection\u201d under federal and state interpretation. The article notes critics see this as ironic as Democrats benefit from months-long early voting; it cites how even Supreme Court justices in an <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >unrelated case examining late-arriving mail ballots raised concerns<\/a> that \u201celection day\u201d language may not align with multi-month voting practices.<\/p>\n<p>The piece compares jones\u2019s argument to the Republican National Committee\u2019s position in a pending Supreme Court case (\u201cWatson v. RNC\u201d) about whether ballots arriving after Election Day can be counted,and it draws on legal arguments that a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/there-is-a-clear-path-to-victory-for-the-pro-life-movement\/\" title=\"There Is A Clear Path To Victory For The Pro-Life Movement\">multi-day election<\/a> changes the nature of the event intended by the constitution. As an example of the alleged risks of extended voting, it claims some Virginians had already voted before learning Jones\u2019s controversial comments, complicating voters\u2019 ability to make a fully informed choice.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Jay Jones, the Virginia attorney general who <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/03\/virginia-dem-ag-candidate-fantasized-about-assassinating-republican-wished-death-on-his-kids\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fantasized<\/a> about executing a Republican colleague and wished death on his children, has not developed a reputation for thoughtful reflection. So perhaps it\u2019s unsurprising that, in his <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JasonMiyaresVA\/status\/2054155473763393573\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">typographically-challenged<\/a> frenzy to salvage Virginia Democrats\u2019 gerrymandering efforts, he has accidentally made a case to the U.S. Supreme Court against the months-long \u201celection season\u201d that his fellow Democrats prize. The only thing that could make the cosmic irony sweeter would be the Supreme Court taking Jones up on his request to interpret the Constitution as mandating a single Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>The Virginia Constitution requires constitutional referendums, like the one Democrats rammed through changing the makeup of the state\u2019s congressional representation from six Democrats and five Republicans to 10-1, to be passed twice by the legislature, with an election between passages. Unfortunately for Democrats, when they passed the referendum the first time, voters were already more than a month into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-house-passes-omnibus-election-reform-bill\/\" title=\"Georgia House Passes Omnibus ... Reform Bill\">early voting period<\/a> for the election that was constitutionally required to take place <em>after<\/em> the referendum\u2019s first passage. The Virginia Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vacourts.gov\/static\/opinions\/opnscvwp\/1260127.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">struck the referendum down<\/a> on these grounds last week.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of accepting the highest Virginia court\u2019s interpretation of Virginia law, Jones has placed himself in the awkward position of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/12\/democrats-ask-scotus-to-classify-virginias-45-day-election-as-a-single-day-event\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">arguing<\/a> that Virginia\u2019s 45-day election actually takes place on a single day. In an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Jones <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/25\/25A1240\/408563\/20260511151941216_25A%20Application%20for%20Stay.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argues<\/a> that federal law \u201cexpressly fixes a single day for the \u2018election\u2019 of Representatives and Delegates to Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Virginia Constitution, Jones insists, \u201cunmistakably indicates that, as a matter of ordinary English usage, the \u2018general election\u2019 takes place in \u2018November,\u2019 not over a three-month period beginning in September.\u201d Election integrity advocates who have long complained about Democrats\u2019 extension of Election Day into a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/first-ballots-mailed-closer-to-biden-harris-switcheroo-than-nov-5\/\" title=\"First Ballots Mailed Closer To Biden-Harris Switcheroo Than Nov. 5\">months-long process<\/a> via early and mail-in voting could hardly have said it better.<\/p>\n<p>Even Vox, hardly a wellspring of serious constitutional analysis, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/488391\/supreme-court-virginia-gerrymander-scott-mcdougle-jay-jones\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cautioned<\/a> that Jones was shooting Democrat interests in the foot by asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on that claim.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Jones is asking to have it both ways: he would presumably like to keep Virginia\u2019s expansive voting season \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vote.org\/early-voting-calendar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one of the longest in the country<\/a> \u2014 but would also like the court to define the 45-day period as a single-day event to protect Democrats\u2019 gerrymandering attempt. But the court can easily consider his spirited defense of a singular Election Day without indulging his contradictory demands.<\/p>\n<p>As Jones says, \u201cfederal statutes\u201d such as 2 U.S.C. \u00a7 7 \u201csettle the question\u201d of when elections should be held. That statute <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/2\/7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">requires<\/a> that elections for congressional representatives shall occur on \u201cThe Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The Virginia Constitution <a href=\"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/constitutionexpand\/article4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sets<\/a> the same date for state legislative elections. In fact, Jones points out, the \u201cVirginia Constitution has set elections to take place on a single day for more than 150 years, long before the General Assembly established early absentee voting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His argument bears some similarities to those made by the Republican National Committee and amici in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/2026\/03\/court-appears-ready-to-overturn-state-law-allowing-for-late-arriving-mail-in-ballots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">case<\/a> currently under consideration by the Supreme Court. He even cites that case, <em>Watson v. RNC,<\/em> numerous times in his brief. At issue in that case, which was heard by the justices in March, is a Mississippi law that allows <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-to-review-legality-of-counting-mail-ballots-arriving-after-election-day\/\" title=\"... to review legality of counting mail ... after ... ...\">mail ballots arriving<\/a> up to five business days after Election Day to be counted as long as they were mailed by Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>The RNC, joined by the United States and other amici, argued that accepting ballots after Election Day violates the federal establishment of a single Election \u201cDay.\u201d Paul Clement, arguing for the RNC, and U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer, arguing for the United States in support of the RNC, did not challenge early voting \u2014 and did not need to do so to win their case. But some amici hinted that expansive early voting regimes that stretch \u201cElection Day\u201d out for months could run afoul of federal law.<\/p>\n<p>As a brief by members of Congress and the American Center for Law and Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/24\/24-1260\/396200\/20260213101253470_24-1260%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20The%20American%20Center%20for%20Law%20and%20Justice.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">put it<\/a>, \u201cAllowing ballots to be cast too early \u2026 similarly deprives Election Day of its force and meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even several justices, during oral arguments, raised the point that a textual interpretation of \u201cElection Day\u201d would seem to call the months-long voting process popular in Democrat localities into question. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have Election Day anymore. We have election month or we have election months,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/oral_arguments\/argument_transcripts\/2025\/24-1260_8njq.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted<\/a> Justice Samuel Alito. \u201cEarly voting can start a month before the election. The ballots can be received a month after the election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Justice Amy Coney Barrett observed: \u201cIt seems to me that if you look at the historical practice, what an election meant was showing up in person and casting your vote and being qualified as the voter on that same day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even Justice Elena Kagan, one of the liberals on the court, acknowledged that \u201cif you said to Congress[in1872whenCongress[in1872whenCongress<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/2026\/03\/court-to-hear-argument-in-case-that-could-have-significant-impact-on-2026-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">extended<\/a> the designated November Election Day to representatives], do you think that the Civil War provides a precedent for early voting generally among the civilian population, I think they would have laughed at you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Clement noted, challenges to early voting have been brought at the circuit court level before, and rejected. However, they have been seriously considered. In the 9th Circuit\u2019s 2001 decision in <em>Voting Integrity Project, Inc. v. Keisling<\/em>, Clement observed, Judge Andrew Kleinfeld \u201cadmits there\u2019s actually a pretty good argument based on the text and[theSupremeCourt\u2019s1997decisionin[theSupremeCourt\u2019s1997decisionin<em>Foster v. Love<\/em>]that early voting is problematic.\u201d (In <em>Foster<\/em>, the Supreme Court had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/1997\/96-670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">struck down<\/a> an open primary election process in Louisiana that allowed congressional candidates to win their seats before Election Day.)<\/p>\n<p>Kleinfeld <a href=\"https:\/\/caselaw.findlaw.com\/court\/us-9th-circuit\/1015046.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> that the federal statute \u201cmay reasonably be construed to mean that all voting in federal elections should take place on a single day.\u201d However, the 9th Circuit upheld Oregon\u2019s early mail voting process because federal statutes permitted absentee voting for residents who were away from home on Election Day, and because the court in <em>Foster<\/em> described an election as being \u201cconsummated\u201d on Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>If Jones really wants the court to examine the legality of Virginia\u2019s six-week-long voting marathon, the court has some reading material in Kleinfeld\u2019s opinion and beyond. In an amicus brief for the Claremont Institute\u2019s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, filed in support of the RNC in its case against Mississippi, John Eastman laid out a thorough history of the constitutional intent motivating the establishment of a single Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA multi-day election is not simply\u00a0\u2018more time to vote;\u2019 it constitutes a fundamental alteration of the legal nature of the event,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/24\/24-1260\/396529\/20260217180253502_24-1260%20Brief.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>. \u201cIt transforms the election from a discrete, simultaneous act of sovereign choice into an extended process\u00a0\u2013\u00a0one in which the electorate remains fluid and exposed to the dangers the Constitution was designed to foreclose.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Virginia\u2019s 2025 election, in which Jones was elected, provides an apt example of the dangers of such fluidity. When news broke that Jones had fantasized about the murder of his Republican colleague and his children, many Virginians had <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/08\/how-many-of-300000-virginia-early-voters-want-to-change-their-mind-on-jay-jones-but-cant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">already cast<\/a> their votes \u2014 depriving them of the ability to weigh Jones\u2019 homicidal proclivities in their evaluation of him.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Jones <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/25\/25A1240\/408563\/20260511151941216_25A%20Application%20for%20Stay.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">insists<\/a> that interpreting the prescribed Election Day as \u201cthe entire period of early voting beginning in September\u201d is a \u201cnovel and manifestly atextual interpretation\u201d of federal and state law. Or, as Chief Justice Cleo Powell of the Virginia Supreme Court put it in her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vacourts.gov\/static\/opinions\/opnscvwp\/1260127.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dissent<\/a> last week, \u201cextending elections in the Commonwealth of Virginia beyond a single day \u2026 would directly conflict with the federal mandate that elections for federal offices be held on a single day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The RNC didn\u2019t ask SCOTUS to go that far in <em>Watson<\/em>. But if Jones really wants the court to rule that Election Day, as prescribed in federal law, must be a single-day event, more power to him. If salvaging Virginia Democrats\u2019 gerrymander hinges on turning election season back into Election Day, that\u2019s a trade plenty of Virginia conservatives will take.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Elle Purnell is the assignment editor at The Federalist. She has appeared on Fox Business and Newsmax, and her work has been featured by RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women&#8217;s Forum. She received her B.A. in government with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_ellepurnell.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jay Jones\u2019 push to save Virginia Democrats\u2019 gerrymandering may have inadvertently given the U.S. Supreme Court a chance to limit \u201cElection Day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1353,"featured_media":2602538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-9.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[6571,4151,32570],"class_list":["post-2602537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-elections","tag-judiciary","tag-voting-rights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-9.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2602537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2602545,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602537\/revisions\/2602545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2602538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}