7th Circuit Affirms Dismissal of GOP Challenge to Illinois’ Mail-in Ballot Receipt Deadline

As a result of a decision from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Illinois election officials can continue to count mail-in ballots for up to two weeks after an election so long as they are postmarked or certified by Election Day. 

The 7th Circuit’s ruling affirms a Trump-appointed judge’s previous dismissal of a lawsuit from GOP Congressman Michael Bost and Republican voters who sought to invalidate Illinois’ post-election ballot receipt deadline.

“Because Plaintiffs have not alleged an adequate injury, we agree that they lack standing to bring this suit and affirm the district court’s dismissal of the case on jurisdictional grounds,” the 7th Circuit’s decision states. Judge John Lee, a Biden appointee, authored the ruling.

Today’s rejection of Bost’s suit comes as the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Trump campaign are currently litigating similar challenges to mail-in ballot receipt deadlines in Mississippi and Nevada, both of which were rejected by district courts in recent weeks and are now on appeal.

Since the beginning of this year, Republicans and conservative groups have lost a total of four lawsuits challenging mail-in ballot receipt deadlines.

Aside from Illinois, approximately 20 other states and U.S. territories have post-election ballot receipt deadlines, which ensure that voters are not disenfranchised due to postal delays beyond their control. 

Bost predicated his legal challenge on the notion that Illinois’ 14-day mail-in ballot receipt deadline effectively “expands” Election Day in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law, which requires states to hold Election Day on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Bost and his Republican co-plaintiffs — who were represented by the right-wing legal group Judicial Watch — also alleged that the two-week receipt deadline for mail-in ballots burdens their right to vote by allowing “illegal ballots” to “dilute the value of timely ballots cast and received on or before Election Day.”

The RNC and Trump campaign’s ongoing lawsuits in Mississippi and Nevada put forth largely similar arguments, which have fallen flat even among Republican-appointed judges.

While all three 7th Circuit judges in today’s ruling agreed that the plaintiffs cannot adequately demonstrate that their votes are “diluted” by the state’s deadline, Judge Michael Scudder — a Trump appointee — dissented in part after concluding that Bost, as a congressional candidate, has standing.

In particular, Scudder wrote that the state’s ballot receipt deadline “will increase Bost’s campaign costs this November—a fact that gives Bost a concrete stake in the resolution of this lawsuit.”

In February, a Trump-appointed federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the right-wing Public Interest Legal Foundation challenging North Dakota’s mail-in ballot receipt deadline, which allows for the counting of mail-in ballots up to 13 days after Election Day. 

In the Illinois, Mississippi and North Dakota cases, the U.S. Department of Justice chimed in to underscore the importance of post-Election Day mail-in ballot deadlines for military and overseas voters, who often face logistical challenges with transporting ballots from distant locations. 

The Democratic Party of Illinois highlighted in an amicus brief how the state’s receipt deadline “guards against the disenfranchisement of all qualified voters, including Bost’s constituents and supporters.” 

Read the ruling here.

Learn more about the case here.