{"id":2623409,"date":"2026-07-03T14:35:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-scotus-fails-to-act-states-must-step-up-to-save-election-day\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T14:39:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:39:53","slug":"after-scotus-fails-to-act-states-must-step-up-to-save-election-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-scotus-fails-to-act-states-must-step-up-to-save-election-day\/","title":{"rendered":"After SCOTUS Fails To Act, States Must Step Up To Save Election Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/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%2Fafter-scotus-fails-to-act-states-must-step-up-to-save-election-day%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=2623409&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 discusses a recent Supreme Court ruling in watson v.RNC, where a 5-4 decision upheld Mississippi&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/roberts-concerned-illinois-wants-to-limit-election-lawsuits-to-fraught-time\/\" title=\"Roberts concerned Illinois wants to limit ... lawsuits to &#039;fraught time&#039;\">law allowing ballots postmarked<\/a> by Election Day but received afterward to be counted. Despite clear federal law establishing a single Election Day, the majority&#8217;s reasoning permits states to extend ballot collection into periods lasting days or weeks beyond Election Day, potentially undermining electoral confidence. justices Roberts and Barrett sided wiht the liberals, emphasizing that states can decide their own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-democrats-h-r-1-is-a-power-grab-would-undermine-states-election-rules\/\" title=\"Republicans: Democrats... H.R. 1 Is a Power Grab, Would Undermine ...... ... Rules\">ballot receipt deadlines<\/a>, even though this conflicts with the notion of a definitive Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>The dissent, led by Justice Alito, highlighted recent instances of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-kraken-released-attorney-sidney-powell-files-104-page-bombshell-complaint-of-massive-fraud-in-georgia-election-update-michigan-too\/\" title=\"BREAKING: KRAKEN RELEASED! Attorney Sidney Powell Files 104 Page BOMBSHELL COMPLAINT of Massive ... in Georgia ... - Update: Michigan too\">absentee ballot fraud<\/a> and argued that extending ballot receipt periods could compromise election integrity. The ruling effectively discounts the importance of timely ballot finality and suggests that concerns over fraud are better addressed by state legislatures than by federal courts. <\/p>\n<p>The article advocates for more stringent state-level measures, such as strictly defining Election Day as the deadline for ballot receipt, citing Ohio&#8217;s proactive legislation as a model. It emphasizes that Election Day should indeed be recognized as a definitive cutoff to preserve election integrity and public confidence. The authors, Steve Roberts and Nicole Kelly of save Election Day, call for reforms aligning with this view to prevent post-Election Day ballot counting from undermining democratic processes.  <\/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\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>The current conservative Supreme Court rarely gets it wrong when it comes to election administration.But this week\u2019s ruling in Watson v. RNC, that reliable majority flipped on its head with Justices John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett siding with the liberals by holding that, despite plain language in federal law dictating one clear federal election day, states are free to hold federal elections that go days, weeks, or even months into an overtime period for absentee and mail ballot collection.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it\u2019s up to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/us-news\/law\/supreme-court-lets-states-count-mailed-ballots-received-after-election-day-45d7849d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">14 states<\/a> that allow for <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >post-election day ballot receipt<\/a> to inject confidence in Election Day by reaffirming \u2013 as required by federal law \u2013 that Election Day does not somehow mean \u201cElection Week\u201d or even \u201cElection Month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a 5-4 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/24-1260_g3cn.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">decision<\/a> that saw Justice Barrett siding with the likes of Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court upheld a Mississippi law that allowed for ballots that were only postmarked by election day, but received by election officials days later, to be counted in the regularly-tabulated totals for an election.<\/p>\n<p>In arriving at this conclusion, the Court followed contorted logic that an election could be deemed to be concluded despite states being permitted to actively collect \u2013 and solicit the receipt of \u2013 new absentee ballots.<\/p>\n<p>And it summarily discounted the fact that, since first class mail may be recalled, a voter\u2019s choice is not final until that ballot gets delivered to the election official, meaning that for voters who vote by mail, that choice isn\u2019t finalized until the mail is actually delivered.<\/p>\n<p>O.J. Simpson famously published a book called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/If-I-Did-Confessions-Killer\/dp\/0825305934\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cIf I Did It,\u201d<\/a> in which he explained that while he didn\u2019t kill his wife, he laid out the way in which he would have done it. In his dissent, Justice Alito didn\u2019t need to refer to such hypotheticals to show how someone could undermine \u2013 even steal \u2013 an election, he instead cited five very real, very recent instances in which absentee ballot fraud resulted in a new election, including one in which \u201cGeorgia courts had voided an election after finding \u2018widespread\u2019 absentee-ballot fraud involving vote buying, vote selling, multiple voting, felon voting, and deceased-person voting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many states also permit harvested absentee ballots or even ballots without a postmark altogether to be delivered after Election Day. However, the Supreme Court\u2019s majority opinion simply ignored the policy arguments that a mandated stop time for ballot receipt would prevent fraud and restore confidence in the elections. Instead, they said that those arguments are better directed at state legislatures.<\/p>\n<p>On that point, we agree: states could and should take any number of actions that would bolster confidence in the election process, including implementing photo voter ID, implementing proof of citizenship requirements on voter registration, commonsense safeguards in the casting and counting of ballots, as well as transparency in the procedures by which federal agencies and regular citizens can meaningfully audit those processes.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the 14 states that still allow ballots to be received after Election Day could start by doing what the Supreme Court would not \u2013 mandating that the prescribed day on which the election is held means the ballot receipt deadline. Late last year, the <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiocapitaljournal.com\/2026\/06\/30\/ohio-nixed-absentee-ballot-grace-period-before-us-supreme-court-ruling-but-court-went-the-other-way\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">State of Ohio<\/a> saw an opportunity to instill even more confidence in its elections by passing and signing a bill that would take bold action even before this Supreme Court holding, and end the state\u2019s four-day period after an election during which absentee ballots could still be received and counted towards the election tallies.<\/p>\n<p>Other states should follow Ohio\u2019s lead and give their voters the right to know that ballots being tallied in the days and even weeks following Election Day are not the result of some ballot drop or ballot harvesting operation in a way that nullifies the legitimate, validly-cast votes on or before Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>Election Day means Election Day for a reason, even if the majority of SCOTUS disagrees.<\/p>\n<p><em>Steve Roberts and Nicole Kelly are the founders of Save Election Day, a non-profit advocating for state law-based election reforms. They are also political lawyers at Lex Politica PLLC.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter\u2019s byline and their DCNF affiliation. 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RNC ruling flipped the script, with Roberts and Barrett siding with liberals to allow federal elections to extend beyond Election Day for mail ballots<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2623410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_9863.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[5521,34382,6994,82184,32570],"class_list":["post-2623409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-democracy","tag-election-security","tag-scotus","tag-state-responsibility","tag-voting-rights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_9863.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623409","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2623409"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2623413,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623409\/revisions\/2623413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2623410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2623409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2623409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2623409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}