Appeals court skeptical of Mike Bost’s case to stop ballot counts after Election Day
By HANNAH MEISEL
Capitol News Illinois
hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com
CHICAGO – A panel of federal appellate judges on Thursday seemed skeptical of legal arguments made on behalf of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, who claims Illinois’ law allowing counting of mail-in ballots for two weeks after an election is in violation of federal law.
Bost’s late 2022 lawsuit was filed with help from a conservative group that assisted former President Donald Trump’s efforts to block the counting of mail-in ballots after Election Day 2020. The suit named the Illinois State Board of Elections, seeking the court’s intervention against a 2015 state law that allows vote-by-mail ballots to be counted if they’re received within 14 days of Election Day so long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day.
A lower court judge dismissed Bost’s case last summer, ruling the state’s law governing mail-in ballots is in step with federal law. But Bost appealed, leading to Thursday’s oral arguments in front of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
The arguments happened to be scheduled nine days after Illinois’ 2024 Primary Election, in which the race for Cook County State’s Attorney was still too close to call Thursday as local election authorities were still counting mail-in ballots. While that scenario didn’t come up in front of the panel, Bost’s own recent electoral history did.
“Right now, he’s ahead in the count,” Bost’s attorney Russell Nobile said of his client’s close race against Republican challenger, former State Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, the failed GOP candidate for governor in 2022. The Associated Press called the race for Bost the morning after the March 19 primary when Bost was 2,590 votes ahead of Bailey.
Read more: CNI’s 2024 Primary Election Results
“He has spent nine days monitoring late arrival ballots, calling districts, checking the internet, having his staff do it, to make sure that the victory that is believed he received on election night is not taken away by late-arriving ballots,” Nobile said.
In dismissing the case last summer, U.S. District Judge John Kness rejected Bost’s arguments that he had the right to sue over Illinois’ law allowing ballots to be counted for two weeks after Election Day. Bost claimed the law forced him to spend significant resources on his campaign for that same time period.
“It is mere conjecture that, if Congressman Bost does not spend the time and resources to confer with his staff and watch the results roll in, his risk of losing the election will increase,” the judge wrote. “Under the letter of Illinois law, all votes must be cast by Election Day, so Congressman Bost’s electoral fate is sealed at midnight on Election Day, regardless of the resources he expends after the fact.”
Alex Hemmer, who argued on behalf of the Board of Elections, sought to discredit any argument that Bost’s lawsuit was on behalf of voters who were “injured” by the law because the continued counting of mail-in ballots for two weeks after Election Day would “dilute” votes made on or before Election Day.
“Voters aren’t injured by a law that makes it easier for voters to cast ballots,” Hemmer told the panel.
Bost had also made an originalist argument about Illinois’ ballot counting law not comporting to the nearly two-century-old law that set Election Day as the first Tuesday in November. But Hemmer cut that argument down, pointing out that the nation’s first mass use of absentee voting occurred during the Civil War, when soldiers’ ballots were counted “days or weeks” after Election Day.
“The historical record does not support this argument at all,” he said. “If anything, it tends to refute it,” he said.
Judge Michael Scudder pointed out that many states also allow for the counting of mail-in ballots after Election Day, and pointed out that Congress has long allowed ballots from overseas military personnel and has updated federal law recently enough to have considered the existence and impact of other state laws.
“It seems odd, though, in the military statutes, that Congress would acknowledge and respect the fact that some states have receipt deadlines that postdate Election Day,” Scudder said. “And that in the text of the federal statutes, Congress would allow those to be respected if, at the same time, all of the state law was categorically preempted.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
Local News
Sisters make Chicago Lawn a world destination
Spread the love. Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 . Earlier this month was the Fifth Lithuanian Documentary Film Festival, with distinguished guests from Lithuania and other parts of the United States visiting the neighborhood. They held a photo session in the editorial office of…
Happy Mother’s Day to everyone, everyone
Spread the love. By Mary Stanek Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon 3808 W. 57th Place • (773) 517-7796 . Yet another Mother’s Day is upon us. I wish everyone a happy day. By everyone I do mean everyone. There are a lot of dads who do it alone, along with important mother…
Mother’s Day is truly a day to be celebrated
Spread the love. Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place • (773) 504-9327 . Mother’s Day happens on Sunday, May 12. If this isn’t something to celebrate, I don’t know what is. Motherhood means new life, new beginnings, new possibilities. Even if you won’t be seeing your mom, you can still…
Saint Xavier men’s volleyball finishes historic season in nation’s top 4
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Saint Xavier men’s volleyball team made history by advancing to the semifinals of the NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Championship. But the Cougars fell to eventual national champion Georgetown (Kentucky), 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 21-25, 15-10, on May 3 at Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Although there was…
St. Francis first baseman Nate Maliska earns conference POW honors
Spread the loveBy Mike Walsh Correspondent The University of St. Francis sophomore first baseman Nate Maliska was chosen the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference’s Player of the Week in baseball for April 7. In helping the Saints to four wins that week, Maliska went 9-for-15 (.600) with eight RBI and seven runs scored. The St. Laurence…
Baseball | Marist claws way back to .500
Spread the loveBy Xavier Sanchez Correspondent This season has thus far not been what Marist had expected, but the RedHawks came into this week at .500. Marist was 2-8 after 10 games this season, with three of those first eight losses coming via shutout. But the RedHawks turned things around with a stretch of eight…
Red Stars fall to Spirit for third loss in past four matches
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent After enjoying one of their best starts in franchise history, the Chicago Red Stars have slid to the middle of the NWSL standings, with the latest setback being a 4-2 loss to Washington at SeatGeek Stadium. The Stars (3-3-1) entered this week having dropped three of their past four…
Red Stars take aim at NWSL attendance record with Wrigley game
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Chicago Red Stars are thinking big when it comes to their upcoming game at Wrigley Field. The team is taking aim at the NWSL record for single-game attendance when it hosts Bay FC at the historic home of the Chicago Cubs on June 8. The record is held…
Neighbors
Hair salon with a ‘flair’ marks first year in Chicago Ridge
Spread the loveBy Joe Boyle Melissa Kowalski wanted to do something meaningful to mark the first-year anniversary of her Flair With Hair Salon in Chicago Ridge. “We did not have a grand opening last year so I wanted to do something really special,” Kowalski said. “We wanted to say thank you to our clients.” Kowalski,…
Palos East fifth-grader wins Scholastic Storyworks writing contest
Spread the loveGabriel Chowaniec, a fifth-grader at Palos East Elementary School, has been named a winner of the Scholastic Storyworks Magazine writing contest. Gabriel, who is a student in Cathy Casey’s fifth-grade classroom, was named one of only five winners nationally for the December 2023/January 2024 competition. Garbriel’s submission for the nonfiction story “The Shattered Land,” “showed a strong understanding of the text along with the ability to author a well-organized…
Shepard celebrates Autism Week
Spread the loveBy Kelly White World Autism Acceptance Week is organized by the National Autistic Society in the first week of April and aims to raise awareness about the challenges autistic people face across all areas of society. Not missing out the opportunity to celebrate all-inclusion was Shepard High School, 13049 S. Ridgeland Ave., Palos…
Billions of cicadas get ready to raise a racket
Spread the loveBy Kelly White If you haven’t heard the buzz yet, you will soon. With 2024 marking a big year for periodical cicadas in Illinois, billions of the red-eyed buggers will soon be making an appearance. Periodical cicada broods XIII and XIX will be emerging throughout much of the state at the same time.…
‘A man of honor, a beacon of kindness’
Spread the love. Chicago weeps for Officer Luis Huesca . By Tim Hadac People across the Southwest Side shed tears earlier this week, as throngs of police officers and other filled the St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel at 77th and Western for a funeral Mass for CPD Officer Luis M. Huesca. Officer Huesca was…
Archer Manor Little League starts its 2024 season
Spread the love. Sunny skies and mild temperatures greeted the boys and girls, moms and dads, umpires and coaches, and everyone else participating in Archer Manor Little League’s Opening Day parade and ceremonies at Archer Park. Since 1952, AMLL has provided athletic opportunities for thousands of boys and girls in Archer Heights, West Elsdon, Central…
Dread over car drifters on streets
Spread the love. Reckless drivers take over SW Side intersections . By Tim Hadac At the April meeting of the Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch, a police officer admitted that the drag racing/drifting phenomenon seen and heard in the Midway area in recent years “probably will increase, but we hope not.” The admission was triggered by…
Don’t raise pilots’ retirement age, García says
Spread the love. From staff reports U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-4th), senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently led a letter joined by 121 Members of Congress urging House Democratic leadership to reject any changes to the pilot retirement age in a final version of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill.…
CTA launches ‘chat’ feature on website
Spread the love. From staff reports Artificial Intelligence has made another step forward at the Chicago Transit Authority. CTA officials recently launched the “Chat with CTA” chatbot, a new virtual automated service featured on transitchicago.com. The communication tool allows riders to report issues, provide feedback and receive answers in real-time. Additionally, it provides the CTA with customer…