Politics

Election Policy Supreme Court Set To Debate Is Literally An 80-20 Issue, Poll Shows

[Wikimedia Commons/Public/LaurenShaull]

A key election integrity issue set to be debated by the Supreme Court has overwhelming bipartisan support among the U.S. public, according to a poll released Friday and shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Eighty-three percent of U.S. likely voters agree that mail-in ballots should be received no later than Election Day — including 57% who strongly agree, a survey conducted by CRC Research for the Honest Elections Project (HEP) found. Nearly three-quarters, 74%, of Democrats join 83% of independents and 93% of Republicans in supporting an Election Day ballot deadline, per the poll.

HEP’s poll also found that while over eight in 10 Americans agree there should be an Election Day deadline for ballots, a smaller six in ten majority believe that ballots received after polls close should not be counted.

Among Republicans, that majority is larger, with 80% agreeing that ballots “received after polls close on Election Day should not be counted.” With 59% of independents feeling the same, only Democrats, at 42%, did not have a majority in agreement in the survey, though it was close. Overall, 60% of likely voters agreed with this statement, according to the survey.

Furthermore, 78% of the poll’s respondents — including 68% of Democrats — said that having an Election Day deadline for mail-in ballots “makes elections more secure.” Meanwhile, 60% of total respondents — including 44% of Democrats — said that allowing ballots received after polls close to be counted “makes it easier to cheat.”

Fifty-nine percent of the likely voters agreed that they “would not trust the results of an election that counts ballots received after polls close on Election Day,” HEP’s poll found. Forty-five percent of Democrats agreed with this statement while 48% disagreed.

“Late ballot laws are illegal, unpopular, delay results, and sow distrust in outcomes,” Jason Snead, Executive Director of Honest Elections Project Action, told the DCNF in a statement. “The Supreme Court has a prime opportunity to keep it easy to vote and make it harder to cheat by upholding the rule of law and ensuring that ‘Election Day’ means Election Day.”

The poll’s release comes just days before the Supreme Court is set to begin oral arguments on Watson v. Republican National Committee, a case regarding the constitutionality of a Mississippi state law which allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted up to five days after polls close. A total of 14 states have laws that allow ballots received after Election Day to count, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“Congress for nearly two centuries has sought to promote voter trust and consistency by setting a single nationwide Election Day,” HEP and three other organizations wrote in a joint amicus brief in the case urging the Court to strike down Mississippi’s law as unconstitutional.

“Congress has not left the uniformity of a single federal Election Day to state exploration. Letting these unconstitutional policies remain will exacerbate inconsistencies and delays, lead to disenfranchisement and dilution, and foster mistrust in elections,” HEP, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Center for Election Confidence (CEC) and Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) added in their brief, which was filed in February.

The poll also comes as the Senate considers the SAVE America Act, an election integrity bill that would in part institute a nationwide voter ID mandate. The legislation has encountered fierce opposition from Senate Democrats who argue it amounts to voter suppression and racial discrimination, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer dubbing it “Jim Crow 2.0” on multiple occasions.

However, an August 2025 survey from Pew Research Center found that 83% of U.S. adults, including 71% of Democrats, support requiring all voters present photo ID — similar to the percentages of voters and Democrats who backed election day ballot deadlines per HEP’s poll.

The CRC Research-HEP poll surveyed a sample 1,600 likely voters online across the U.S. from March 12 to 17, and selected respondents randomly from an opt-in panel. Thirty-three percent of respondents were Republicans, 32% were Democrats and 34% were independents. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.45 percentage points.