Josh Findlay, director of the national Election Protection Project at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, joined NTD to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing oral arguments on the Mississippi law that allows late-arriving mail-in ballots.
Findlay said the issue of ballots arriving after elections is causing a crisis in election results and a lack of confidence in those results, and that this case will affect results all around the country, including in Mississippi.
He said banning late ballots would severely minimize the perception of fraud, and that even if there is no fraud, accepting late ballots raises doubts about the process and chain of custody.
Findlay said the Mississippi law is a case where an emergency measure during the pandemic became a permanent feature of elections, and that it was time to return to a regular order when it comes to ballots and get election results tallied as quickly as possible.
Findlay discussed Justice Samuel Alito’s remarks about how Election Day has evolved into “election months,” how the Court's ruling could shrink the election season, reduce the burden on election administrators and jurisdictions, and lead to further federal restrictions.
He discussed provisions in the SAVE America Act and how different levels of government are finding ways to provide stability and confidence in election results. Findlay recognizes that the Court could be wary of how its ruling, expected in June, could affect the upcoming midterm elections in November, but that there would be ample time to implement a ruling.