Federal law sets 'Election Day,' so can states change that to 'Election Week'? * WorldNetDaily * by Bob Unruh
States run presidential elections but federal law sets the standards that must be met, and that specifies that election day in America is “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November” of even-numbered years.
So can states arbitrarily say they’re going to have an election week, accepting ballots that arrive after the election day deadline?
That’s now pending before the Supreme Court.
It used to be that voters lined up at polling stations and waited their turn to cast a ballot on election day. Now, in the days of more easily manipulated mail-in ballots, that’s not the case in many states.
But a report in the Washington Examiner explains there soon may be very specific guidance on those issues, as the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging the legality of counting mail-in ballots that are late.
The decision, one way or another, probably will affect laws in a dozen states or more.
It is Watson v. Republican National Committee out of Mississippi that the court is reviewing.
That law allows state officials to count ballots when they are mailed, and received, up to five days late.
The RNC sued the state, charging that Mississippi is in violation of the federal statute that designates Election Day as the single day on which elections are held.
The RNC contends that means ballot collection is done, that day.
A federal appeals court agreed, but Louisiana appealed, sending the case to the Supreme Court.
The court will review whether federal requirements for election day preempt state laws allowing for those ballots that are postmarked on time, but arrive days late, to be counted.
Louisiana pointed out that holding an “election day” would require changes to state processes in dozens of states.
Bob Unruh