Mail-in ballots must arrive by Election Day to count.
H.R. 10276 — Ballots by Election Day Act · Filed by Laurel Lee (R-FL) · Introduced Sep 3, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill changes federal election law. All mail-in and absentee ballots must reach election officials by poll closing on Election Day. Ballots that arrive after polls close will not be counted. Military and overseas voters are the only exception. The rule would start in 2027.
Who it affects
The bill affects people who vote by mail. This includes rural voters, elderly people, disabled people, and working parents. It also affects people in areas where mail moves slowly.
One thing to notice
The bill creates different rules for different voters. Military and overseas voters can have ballots counted after Election Day, but other voters cannot.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 3, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 3, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on House Administration · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on House Administration”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- mail-in ballots — Votes that people send by mail instead of voting in person.
- absentee ballots — Votes cast by people who cannot go to a polling place on Election Day.
- election officials — People who run elections and count votes in each area.
- polls close — The time when voting stops and no more people can vote in person.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,947 characters) on Sep 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
“Mail-in ballots must arrive by Election Day to count.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10276/simple Report an error