Supreme Court to Consider GOP Challenge to Ballot-Counting Law

The US Supreme Court will consider whether a congressional lawmaker can challenge an Illinois ballot-counting law.

The case granted Monday centers on a measure that allows officials to count ballots received up to two weeks after the election if postmarked by Election Day.

US Rep. Michael Bost (R) and two Republican presidential elector nominees said in their suit that the law impermissibly extends Election Day, which is set by federal statute.

The question for the justices is whether federal candidates like Bost have standing, or the legal authority, to sue. Bost argued that he has standing because extending his campaign to monitor the counting causes him financial harm.

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dismissed the case. It said the harm wasn’t caused by the law but rather Bost’s decision to extend his campaign.

Bost “cannot manufacture standing by choosing to spend money to mitigate such conjectural risks,” the Seventh Circuit said.

Since the “hothouse atmosphere surrounding the 2020 federal elections,” courts have unreasonably restricted candidate standing, Bost told the justices. “The ability of candidates and parties to sue over state laws affecting their campaigns has been narrowed again, and, indeed, may never have been so restricted,” he said.

The case is Bost v. Illinois Board of Elections, U.S., No. 24-568.