Watson v. Republican National Committee · ¶47

But this interpretation of the statute does not work either. UOCAVA presupposes that the deadline for ballot receipt is uniformly a matter of state law; it does not distinguish between general and other elections. See, e.g., 52 U. S. C. §20303(e). And the provision directing the President’s designee to ensure that ballots of overseas military voters are received by state officials “not later than the date by which an absentee ballot must be received in order to be counted” applies only to “regularly scheduled general elections,” §20304(b)(1)—exactly the elections for which plaintiffs claim the election-day statutes already set a uniform ballot-receipt deadline. Given the difficulties of plaintiffs’ interpretation, it is little wonder that roughly 30 States count military and overseas voters’ absentee ballots that arrive after election day.

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