Watson v. Republican National Committee · ¶91

The practice of collecting all ballots by election day persisted into the 20th century. To be sure, there were some departures from this norm in the years after Congress enacted the final election-day statute. During the World Wars, for instance, Congress and at least nine States allowed absentee ballots to arrive after election day in certain situations. See, e.g., 1918 Md. Laws p. 130; 58 Stat. 146 (noting that “any extension of time for the receipt of absentee ballots permitted by State laws shall apply” to federal “war ballot[s]” in World War II). Yet that practice returned to the margins within a few decades. By 1977, a report from the Department of Defense listed only two States as still allowing ballots to arrive after election day. See Overseas Absentee Voting: Hearing on S. 703 before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, 95th Cong., 1st Sess., 33–34 (1977). These…

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