North Dakota accepts mail-in ballots nearly two weeks after election day. How will this affect elections outcomes?

From The Epoch Times. An election integrity group is suing North Dakota to block its law that allows the state to accept and count mail-in ballots so long as they arrive within 13 days after Election Day.

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There are reportedly 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, that accept mailed ballots that are delivered after Election Day. …

If the new federal lawsuit is successful, it could lead to other lawsuits that aim to compel election officials in other states to stop accepting ballots that come in after Election Day. …

Election ‘Lawlessness’

Although states run elections within their borders, federal law mandates that there be a single national Election Day, according to the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), the group that filed the lawsuit (pdf) on July 7.

“Election Day has ceased to be a day,” J. Christian Adams, president of PILF, said in a statement. Adams was previously an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Instead, we have election month because states accept ballots that arrive days and even weeks after Election Day,” Mr. Adams said. “PILF is fighting to end this lawlessness and restore the ‘day’ in Election Day.”

Congress enacted a single statutory Election Day in order to address chaos and protracted uncertainty surrounding elections in the 1800s, the legal complaint says. …

But because North Dakota allows ballots to arrive and be counted as many as 13 days after Election Day despite federal law, the “whole question” of the identity of the new officeholder cannot be decided on Election Day because North Dakota keeps accepting ballots after that day, the complaint says.

The plaintiff, Mark Splonskowski, a Republican, is the County Auditor of Burleigh County, North Dakota. He is suing the defendant, Erika White, in her official capacity as North Dakota’s state election director.

Mr. Splonskowski argues that North Dakota law and the defendant’s enforcement of it harm him because “they put him in the position of having to choose between dictates of state law to accept and allow votes to be cast after Election Day and federal law that requires a single election day.” …

‘Singular, Not Plural’

“Federal law requires a single national Election Day to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November,” PILF’s director of media affairs, Lauren Bowman Bis, told The Epoch Times in an interview.

“Every mention of Election Day in federal law—it only says ‘day’—it’s singular, not plural,” Ms. Bis said. …

“It’s leading to distrust and a lack of confidence in the system. Up until recently, we would always know our election results on either election night or that next morning. You wake up and you’d know.” …

“It’s bad overall for our elections process,” Ms. Bis said. …

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(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Tiffany Tertipes on Unsplash)