[Maru]

Related-ish:

U.S. Supreme Court rules candidates may challenge election laws before Election Day
https://news.ballotpedia.org/2026/01...-election-day/

Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections allows U.S. Rep. Michael Bost (R-Ill.) and two 2024 presidential electors to move forward with a lawsuit challenging an Illinois law allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted up to 14 days after Election Day. Illinois is one of 15 states that allow absentee/mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within a set period of time after the election.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that only allowing a candidate to sue after they could demonstrate harm would force election-related lawsuits to be brought in the days immediately before or after voting takes place. Roberts also said that requiring candidates to prove that a particular law damaged their odds of winning would put judges in the position of predicting election results. Roberts also said that candidates had a particular interest in ensuring results were lawfully tabulated and that the public trusted the outcome.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan agreed that Bost should be allowed to sue, but only because he suffered a possible financial injury from the law. Barrett wrote in a concurring opinion that the court should not grant candidates broad standing to sue over election laws: "Congressman Bost has standing because he has suffered a traditional pocketbook injury, not because of his status as a candidate."

The ruling did not address whether Illinois' mail-in ballot counting law is constitutional. The justices are slated to hear Watson v. Republican National Committee, a case challenging the legality of a similar Mississippi law that allows absentee ballots to be counted if they are received within four days of the election.