Bost v. Illinois Bd. of Elections · ¶13

Such harm to candidates is in no sense “common to all members of the public.” Lance v. Coffman, 549 U. S. 437, 440 (2007) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks omitted). Voters, to be sure, also have a “general interest” in an accurate vote tally. Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted). But a candidate's interest differs in kind. An unfair and inaccurate election plainly affects those who compete for the support of the people in a different way than it affects the people who lend their support. We have no occasion to theorize about the “significance of the[se] relative interests,” contra, post, at 89 (Jackson, J., dissenting), or the “sincer[ity]” with which they are held, Carney v. Adams, 592 U. S. 53, 59 (2020) (internal quotation marks omitted). What matters is that the harm candidates suffer is distinct from that suffered by the “people generally.” Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.…

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