Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced legislation that would create a federal deadline requiring all absentee and mail-in ballots to be received by the time polls close on Election Day across the country. The Ballots by Election Day Act targets states like California and Washington, where ballot counting can extend for days or weeks beyond when polls close.
The proposal follows a Supreme Court decision that allowed mail-in ballots postmarked before Election Day to still be counted if they arrived later. While the court's ruling permitted late-arriving ballots in Mississippi, it did not explicitly address whether Congress could set a federal deadline — an opening Lankford said lawmakers are now moving to fill.
What the Right Is Saying
"I have made fun of other states for years because there's quite a few states around the country that can't seem to figure out how to be able to count," Lankford told Fox News Digital. "In Oklahoma, our election ends at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday night." He added: "Usually by 9 p.m., all of our thousands of precincts are all in and counted. We start the verification process. We do an audit after that. We have great trust in our elections because we know. We all vote. But we get them all in on that."
"States counting late ballots are inviting fraud and sowing doubt in their own election results," Lee said in a statement. "Our bill will clarify protocol and restore trust by counting only ballots received before the polls close on Election Day." Lankford argued that states like California, New York, and Washington breed distrust when voters may not know final counts for weeks or months after voting.
Lankford framed the measure as a confidence-building step rather than a partisan fight. "Once the court made their ruling, as that came out, they left a clear door open to say this could be defined by the United States Congress," he said. "So I said, let's step in and actually do that. Let us provide some real clarity for that. This shouldn't be controversial. This should just be something to build trust in our elections."
What the Left Is Saying
Democratic lawmakers and voting rights organizations have historically opposed federal mandates that restrict how states administer elections, arguing that election administration is primarily a state responsibility under the Constitution. They contend that delays in counting mail-in ballots stem from state laws — many of which prevent election officials from processing or tabulating mail ballots before Election Day — rather than inefficiency on the part of election workers.
Advocates for expanded mail voting also argue that requiring all ballots to be received by polls closing could disenfranchise voters whose ballots are postmarked on time but delivered late due to postal service delays. They say states should retain flexibility in how they count valid votes, and have pointed to the Supreme Court's ruling as recognition that ballot deadlines can reasonably extend beyond Election Day.
What the Numbers Show
Lankford cited Oklahoma as a comparison point: all of its thousands of precincts report their counts by roughly 9 p.m. on Election Night, followed by an audit and verification process. By contrast, states like California, New York, and Washington have taken days to weeks to complete their counts in recent elections, according to the senators.
The Supreme Court's ruling in the Mississippi case allowed mail-in ballots postmarked before Election Day to be counted if they arrived after polls closed — a decision that did not set a specific federal deadline but left open whether Congress could establish one. The bill would apply uniformly across all time zones, meaning ballots must arrive by the close of polls in their respective states.
The Bottom Line
The legislation faces an uncertain path through Congress, where election administration rules are typically deferred to state governments under the Constitution's Elections Clause, though federal lawmakers have authority over certain aspects of federal elections. The bill would likely draw opposition from Democrats who view it as an infringement on state control and a potential barrier to mail voting.
Observers will watch whether the measure receives committee consideration or hearings in the coming months, and how states like California respond if Congress moves forward with a nationwide deadline.