Republican senators propose federal deadline for counting all Election Day ballots

Republican senators James Lankford of Oklahoma and Mike Lee of Utah have unveiled the Ballots by Election Day Act, which would impose a federal deadline requiring all states to accept only ballots received by the close of polls on Election Day. The bill seeks to standardize counting timelines across time zones and would affect states like California, Washington and New York, where vote tabulation often continues for days or weeks.

Lankford contends that faster counts foster trust, citing Oklahoma’s practice of completing precinct reporting by 9 p.m. on Election Day. Lee adds that late ballot processing creates opportunities for fraud and erodes confidence in results. Their effort comes after the Supreme Court allowed mail-in ballots postmarked before Election Day to be counted even if they arrive later, a decision that left the deadline question open for legislative action.