Opinion: SCOTUS should strike down tardy ballots

Date: Thursday, June 4, 2026

Lars Larson argues Washington state's 3-week post-election ballot window undermines public trust in results. — Lars Larson argues Washington state’s 3-week post-election ballot window undermines public trust in results.

🎧 Should SCOTUS End Late Ballot Counting?

Sometime this month, maybe in the next few days, the U.S. Supreme Court will hand down a decision that could end tardy voting

Lars Larson
The Northwest Nonsense

If you think it’s bad that California won’t know its primary election results for weeks, Washington state is even worse.

Lars Larson

The Golden state honors citizen ballots that come in a week after election day.

The Evergreen state counts votes that arrive three weeks late.

Sometime this month, maybe in the next few days, the U.S. Supreme Court will hand down a decision that could end tardy voting.

Based on the skeptical questions justices asked back in March when they heard the oral arguments, the Supreme Court seems likely to strike down the grace period allowed by 14 of America’s states.

Seventy-five percent of the states ONLY count votes that arrive on time. I hope the Supremes knock Washington state back to that standard.

The justices recognize that the longer we wait after an election to get the result, the more citizens rightly question if the results are even legit.

Remember when Dino Rossi ran for governor in Washington … and he won the first two ballot counts … but on the third count, miraculously, Democrat Party candidate Christine Gregoire won by 130 out of 2.9 million votes.

That election still stinks … but imagine the stench if you told voters that ballots arriving weeks AFTER the election made all the difference.