HUGE WIN: Supreme Court Reopens Mail-In Ballot Fight

BREAKING: In a HUGE win, the Supreme Court just ruled that Congressional candidates can legally challenge mail-in voting laws reviving a GOP challenge to the late-counting of mail-in ballots

Illinois allows late mail-in ballots to be counted late, after election day for up to two weeks

SCOTUS has upheld Rep. Bost’s (R) standing to challenge this law in favor of a SINGLE election day

The U.S. Supreme Court has revived a Republican-led legal challenge to an Illinois election law that allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive up to 14 days later. In Supreme Court of the United States’s decision in Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections, the justices ruled that the plaintiffs—including Rep. Mike Bost and two Republican presidential electors—have standing to sue, overturning lower-court rulings that had dismissed the case for lack of harm.

The challengers argue Illinois’ late-receipt rule violates federal election statutes governing the timing of federal elections. The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the law itself; instead, it sent the case back to continue in lower courts, reopening a high-stakes fight over whether ballots received after Election Day can legally be counted in federal races.

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Supreme Court revives GOP lawmakers’ challenge to Illinois election law

by Jessica A. Botewlho, The National News DeskWed, January 14, 2026:

WASHINGTON (TNND) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday revived a legal challenge by Republican lawmakers to an Illinois election law that allows ballots received after Election Day to be counted, ruling that the challengers have standing to bring their case despite lower court’s earlier decisions to the contrary.

The case, Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections (No. 24-568), was brought by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost and two Republican presidential electors who argued that the state’s practice of counting certain absentee ballots received up to 14 days after Election Day violates federal election statutes.

FILE – Rep.-elect Mike Bost (R-IL) yells out as Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz (R-FL) delivers remarks in the House Chamber during the fourth day of elections for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 06, 2023 in Washington. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
FILE – Rep.-elect Mike Bost (R-IL) yells out as Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz (R-FL) delivers remarks in the House Chamber during the fourth day of elections for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 06, 2023 in Washington. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Under Illinois law, mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day may be counted if received within two weeks after the election.

Lower courts had rejected the lawsuit before it reached the Supreme Court. Both the federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing — meaning they failed to show they were sufficiently harmed by the law to bring a constitutional challenge.

The Supreme Court’s decision reverses that determination, allowing the case to proceed.