WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider reviving a Republican challenge to an Illinois law that allows mail ballots to be counted if they are received up to two weeks after Election Day.
The justices will hear arguments in the fall over whether Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., and two former presidential electors have the legal right, or standing, to sue over the law in federal court. Lower federal courts ruled they lack standing.
But the case could serve to amplify claims made by President Donald Trump that late-arriving ballots and drawn out electoral counts undermine confidence in elections.
Illinois is among 18 states and the District of Columbia that accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long they are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In March, Trump signed a sweeping executive order on elections that aims to require votes to be “cast and received” by Election Day and says federal funding should be conditional on state compliance.
In their appeal to the court, the Illinois Republicans said the justices should make clear that candidates have the right to challenge state regulations of federal elections.
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