Voting Rights and Democracy
“Myths Around Election Day Deadlines: What the Civil War Teaches Us About Absentee Voting”
This Term, the Court is considering yet another effort to roll back voting access in Watson v. Republican National Committee. This case arises out of the Fifth Circuit, where a three-judge panel struck down a Mississippi law that allows election officials to count ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five business days later. The law ensures that voters who cast their ballot on time are not disenfranchised due to postal delays or delivery complications that occur through no fault of their own. But the stakes extend far beyond Mississippi’s borders: at least 29 states and D.C. have similar statutes accepting mail-in ballots received shortly after Election Day.
More from Voting Rights and Democracy
March 19, 2026
Myths Around Election Day Deadlines: What the Civil War Teaches Us About Absentee Voting
Over the past two decades, the Supreme Court has steadily eroded access to the ballot....
March 13, 2026
Trump’s Voting Nemesis Is at the Supreme Court. We Can’t Afford for SCOTUS to Get It Wrong.
CAC's David H. Gans wrote an article in Slate about Watson v. RNC. Read an excerpt below:...
March 13, 2026
David Gans at Slate on the Upcoming Watson Case at SCOTUS and Absentee Voting During the Civil War
David H. Gan's article in Slate was featured in the Election Law Blog. Read an...
February 2, 2026
Forgotten Framers: Black Conventions and the Second Founding
79 Stan. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2027)
February 26, 2026
“Forgotten Framers: Black Conventions and the Second Founding”
David Gans of the Constitutional Accountability Center has posted his draft on SSRN, forthcoming in the Stanford...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
California v. Trump
In California v. Trump, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is considering whether President Trump’s executive order on voting is unlawful.