WASHINGTON, D.C., November 17, 2025 – The Board of U.S. Vote Foundation issues this urgent and unequivocal statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Watson v. RNC, a case originating in Mississippi that challenges long-standing state law permitting election officials to count ballots postmarked by Election Day but received during the state’s five-day ballot receipt window.
Let’s not complicate this. It’s simple:
This case is about disenfranchising the uniformed services members who serve our country and are deployed away from their homes.
This case is about disenfranchising the military spouses and families who move with them.
This case is about disenfranchising truckers who keep goods moving across the nation, even on Election Day.
This case is about disenfranchising hospital workers and patients who cannot leave to stand in line.
This case is about disenfranchising elderly and disabled voters for whom long lines are a barrier, not a choice.
This case is about punishing working people, the ones who keep our communities running, for having inflexible schedules on Election Day.
This case is about disenfranchising students who are away at school preparing for their futures, but who still have the right to cast a ballot in their home state.
This case is about disenfranchising our diplomats, missionaries, and citizens working abroad who represent America and its democratic values around the world.
This case is about disenfranchising working parents and traveling business people who cannot vote in person at their polling place on Election Day.
For all of these voters, reliable post-Election Day receipt windows are not a convenience. They are a mechanism that ensures their ballots will be counted.
The United States has a successful, decades-long history of administering secure and reliable elections using mail-in and absentee ballots across states with every political composition. We do not need a Supreme Court redefinition of Election Day that would complicate election administration where no structural problem has been demonstrated.
With this decision, the Court risks injecting chaos into election administration, forcing states to rewrite procedures, reject ballots cast in good faith, and undermine public confidence. A poor ruling would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters from every political party in a single stroke.
We caution against attempts to frame this case as simply a matter of administrative burden, postal timing, or the number of voters affected. These are distractions. The purpose of this effort is clear: it is to disenfranchise American citizens.
About U.S. Vote Foundation
U.S. Vote Foundation is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that every citizen is a voter, whether living domestically, overseas, or serving in the military. The organization was founded in 2005 as Overseas Vote Foundation to help Americans living abroad and service members stationed overseas exercise their right to vote. (overseasvotefoundation.org)
In 2012, we launched U.S. Vote Foundation to bring the same tools, clarity, and access to voters in the United States who face hurdles in understanding how, where, and when to vote. We have invested years building voter-centric, nonprofit tools and resources that support absentee and mail-ballot voting options, working tirelessly to remove barriers to the ballot. (usvotefoundation.org)
For years, U.S. Vote Foundation has advocated for and supported absentee and mail-in voting as a fundamental method that reflects both flexibility and fairness in American elections. We will not stand by while efforts are made to roll back or impair these options, especially when they matter most for service members, overseas Americans, working families, seniors, students, and people with disabilities.
Our Call to Action
We urge the Supreme Court, along with every state election official, legislator, and stakeholder, to remember that voting options like mail-in and absentee ballots exist because people’s lives do not pause on Election Day. People work, serve, travel, seek medical care, and fulfill duties to their families and communities. Voting must travel with them.
We call on policymakers to affirm that ballots cast and postmarked by Election Day must be counted, regardless of their arrival date, and to reject any conception that a ballot is valid only if received on Election Day. Democracy cannot be engineered around exclusion.
We also call on voters to raise their voices, stay informed about this case, and advocate for an election system that functions fairly for all. This is not about politics. It is about participation, inclusion, and rights.
Protecting the vote is not a partisan act. It is a democratic obligation. Regardless of the outcome, U.S. Vote Foundation will continue to advocate for voting systems that reflect the realities of modern American life.
The nation is watching. The franchise is at stake. We will be vigilant.