Justice Samuel Alito expressed concern over how the rise of state laws allowing mail ballots to be received after Election Day could undermine public confidence in the electoral process, as the Supreme Court grappled with the legality of Mississippi’s late-arriving mail ballot law Monday.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in Watson v. Republican National Committee, weighing whether federal law setting Election Day preempts Mississippi’s state law allowing ballots to be received up to five days after Election Day if they were postmarked by Election Day. One of the points opponents of Mississippi’s law, and similar laws in 13 other states, have made is how counting ballots that roll in after Election Day undermines public confidence in elections.
