Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, have introduced legislation that would establish a federal deadline for accepting and counting mail-in and absentee ballots, requiring that they be received by the close of polls on Election Day. The bill, titled the Ballots by Election Day Act, seeks to address concerns about prolonged ballot counting processes in some states and bolster confidence in election integrity.
Lankford stated that the legislation is intended to create more trust in the nation's elections, contrasting the system in his home state of Oklahoma, where election results are typically finalized on the same night polls close. "States counting late ballots are inviting fraud and sowing doubt in their own election results," Lee said in a statement. "Our bill will clarify protocol and restore trust by counting only ballots received before the polls close on Election Day."
The proposed federal deadline targets states like California and Washington, where ballot tabulation can extend for days or even weeks after Election Day. Lankford argued that such lengthy counting periods can erode public trust. "When you vote you may not know for weeks to months what the final election count is," he said. "That shouldn't be in the United States of America."
The senators' initiative follows a Supreme Court decision that permitted the counting of mail-in ballots post-marked before Election Day, even if they arrived after the polls closed. While the court's ruling addressed the continuation of mail-in voting, it did not explicitly set a deadline for when these ballots must be counted. Lankford indicated that this omission created an opening for congressional action. "Once the court made their ruling, as that came out, they left a clear door open to say this could be defined by the United States Congress," Lankford explained. "So I said, let's step in and actually do that. Let us provide some real clarity for that. This shouldn't be controversial. This should just be something to build trust in our elections."