Samuel Alito's Take On 'Election Day' Is A Real Head-Scratcher

The Supreme Court justice questioned the legality of mail-in voting based on the name of a holiday.

The legality of counting late-arriving mail-in ballots may hinge on something as trivial as a holiday’s name, at least if you ask Justice Samuel Alito.

The Supreme Court justice expressed skepticism Monday about accepting mail-in ballots received after the official date of an election, even if they’re postmarked on or before, because doing so would violate the name “Election Day.”

“If I have nothing more to look at than the phrase ‘Election Day,’ I think this is the day in which everything is going to take place, or almost everything,” he said in oral arguments examining the legality of a Mississippi law that allows late-arriving mail-in ballots in federal elections.

About 30 states and Washington, D.C., accept at least some ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day but received afterward.

Republicans in Watson v. Republican National Committee are challenging Mississippi’s law, which allows a five-day grace period for ballots received after Election Day. Though it’s a state law, it could change voting rules nationwide if struck down.