by Jeff Childers
Finally, get ready for what might be the best election integrity news we’ve yet received. At minimum, it’s a game changer. The Washington Post ran the story yesterday headlined, “Court rules ballots that arrive late shouldn’t be counted despite postmarks.” The sub-headline ominously warned, “The 5th Circuit’s ruling in a Mississippi case could have implications for other states with similar laws.”
In January, the Republican National Committee sued the State of Mississippi over its policy of counting late-received but timely postmarked ballots. In other words, even if the USPS is slow, oh well, that happens sometimes. And so long as a voter puts the ballot in the mail on November 5th, well, we should be able to count that one whenever it finally arrives.
And if Democrat vote-counters ever need a few more votes, they can just hold open the ballot window a little bit longer, and slam it shut at just the right moment.
In its lawsuit, the RNC argued that, since Congress set a specific deadline, November 5th, that should be the final ballot cutoff, regardless of what the postmark says. But the federal district court ruled against the RNC. And so —fortunately— the RNC appealed to the terrific Fifth Circuit.
Yesterday, a unanimous three-judge Fifth Circuit panel ruled conclusively: the date of receipt is all that matters. The postmark is irrelevant. The date of mailing is irrelevant. If a ballot hasn’t been received by November 5th, it’s too late. “Federal law requires voters to take timely steps to vote by Election Day,” Judge Oldham wrote. “And federal law does not permit the State of Mississippi to extend the period for voting by one day, five days, or 100 days.”
While the decision explicitly applies to Mississippi, it is binding law for the whole Fifth Circuit, which also includes Texas and Louisiana. Outside the Fifth, the case will be considered persuasive law, but not a binding law. So it will influence lawsuits filed in the other jurisdictions. If another circuit goes a different way, it will conflict with this ruling, and that conflict will go straight to the Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court upholds the Fifth, it will become law in all fifty states.
The judges left the problem of how to handle the current election up to the District Court. But it will be under a lot of pressure to comply with the law. More importantly, this brand-new Fifth Circuit law is now available for post-election challenges in any state where late-arrived mail-in ballot determine the results.
It’s difficult to overestimate the significance of this ruling. While it only applies to one avenue of cheating, that avenue has been completely closed off. And while it only applies in one federal circuit, it ripples across the rest of the country.
You ever see any signs of Greg trolling by? I have to believe he comes on and looks longingly at all the facts he could try to refute and lie about. Anyway, I like to think so.
Yeah, he checks the active discussions page but that’s it. Mike hardly posts as well. I think Greg and Mike are happy to not be in here because their side are getting their asses handed to them. All they can hope for is for their side to cheat even more than 2020.
Does this decision relate to THIS election, or, next election?
If it doesn’t relate to THIS election, there won’t BE a NEXT election.
You can expect Democrats to continue to fight this because, a) they have plenty of (other people’s) money and b) they HAVE to cheat by every means possible. What this also indicates is that all those late-arriving votes counted in 2020 were illegal, as we all already knew.
Hear the democrats scream.