Center for Election Confidence (CEC) joined with partners Honest Elections Project (HEP), Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE), and American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to file an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court as it considers the merits of Watson v. RNC (No. 24-1260), an important election integrity case.

(CEC previously partnered with HEP and RITE to file an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hear Watson and affirm the 5th Circuit’s opinion that held federal law generally requires ballots to be received by election officials by Election Day to be counted. Following the group’s urging, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Watson on November 10, 2025).

CEC’s latest brief firmly highlights the important legal tenet that Election Day means Election Day. “A vote is not valid until it is received by election officials”, and Congress has set Election Day as the deadline.

Congress has not left the uniformity of a single federal Election Day to state exploration. Letting these unconstitutional policies remain will exacerbate inconsistencies and delays, lead to disenfranchisement and dilution, and foster mistrust in elections.

Congressional authority to set a single day for presidential and vice presidential elections is clear on the face of the Constitution. As for congressional elections, while the Elections Clause vests Congress only with limited, fail-safe authority over federal elections, CEC argues that Federalist no. 59 clearly intended that Congress employ this fail-safe in very serious situations, such as ensuring it may convene with a full membership.

As Hamilton put it in Federalist No. 59, “every government ought to contain in itself the means of its own preservation,” and “an exclusive power of regulating elections for the national government, in the hands of the State legislatures, would leave the existence of the Union entirely at their mercy.”

As CEC argues, States permitting receipt of ballots after Election Day are acting unlawfully. Congress has explicitly and lawfully preempted States to create a uniform Election Day for all federal general elections. Congress also explicitly considered and rejected an amendment to the law that would permit States to continue voting after Election Day.

When a ballot is not returned to the government by Election Day, the vote has not been cast on that day. Later requirements, like counting, can be accomplished by the government, but returning the ballot to the appropriate government officials is something the voter must do by this deadline.

The ballot box is closed on Election Day, and continuing to accept mail-in ballots after Election Day indicates that the State seeks to extend the date of “consummation of votes” in a given election.

Finally, even if Mississippi’s law were permitted to stand, postmarks—the usual proof of timely submission of any official document—are themselves now unreliable. Yet, as CEC notes, this is beside the point: any late receipt of ballots invites nothing more than a litany of problems for election administrators and voters.

Late ballot receipt poses many problems for election administration—problems that implicate election integrity and thus citizen confidence in elections.

Delays in receipt of ballots result in delays in counting those ballots, leading to increased administrative burden and weakened confidence in the process. CEC argues these delays have compounding effects, resulting in second- and third-order consequences, such as delayed certification or a threat to the ability of Congress to convene with full membership. 

Finally, CEC highlights that by receiving ballots on or before Election Day, states can give voters “an adequate opportunity to cure any inadvertent defects, such as failing to sign the ballot envelope.”

CEC urges the Court to affirm the 5th Circuit’s reasoned holding that Election Day means Election Day.

The Center for Election Confidence thanks Christopher E. Mills of Spero Law LLC for his representation in this matter.