Dem
47
GOP
53
Today, the Supreme Court will do its little part to carry out one of its Constitutionally mandated duties: suppressing the vote. It will hear a case from—of all places—Mississippi, which is trying to make it easier to vote. The RNC is trying to make it harder. RNC vs. the state of Mississippi. Got that?
At issue is a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day but which arrive up to 5 days later, to be counted. The RNC's point of view is that "Election Day" is election DAY, not, election WEEK. Initially, a lower-court judge upheld the Mississippi law. Then a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the state law is invalid, despite the fact that states run elections. The state appealed to the Supreme Court and the hearing is today. The case is important because many states have similar laws.
What is not clear is who would be helped by banning ballots that arrive late. After a slow start, many red states now encourage absentee voting and many seniors, who skew Republican, use it. So it is possible that a ruling that any ballot arriving after the polls close must be shredded might help the Republicans or hurt them. We are not sure. The RNC probably isn't sure either, but it knows that Donald Trump opposes absentee voting, so it knows which side it is supposed to take. The DNC is on the side of Mississippi. Politics makes for strange bedfellows. (V)