by WorldTribune Staff, August 27, 2025 Real World News

The chairman of the House Administration Committee plans to reintroduce an election reform bill which bans states from counting ballots that arrive after the polls close on Election Day.

“We’ll be reintroducing legislation in the weeks ahead, putting forward that gold standard for states about how you should be operating and running your elections, and putting in enforcement mechanisms for states that fail to meet a high standard,” Wisconsin Republican Rep. Bryan Steil told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show on Monday.

“The obvious standard that I think should be the most obvious is that ballots need to be in by the time the polls close.”

The only exception to this rule would be ballots from veterans who are serving active duty overseas, Steil said.

States must improve their election operations as the 2026 midterms are approaching, Steil said:

“What we want is Americans to have strong conviction and a strong belief that the election system works, and we know what protocols and procedures we need to have in place. We just need the willingness of states to step up and do it, or we need the federal government to come in and force those states to get their elections into gear.”

Steil pointed to states such as California, which he said “more or less are seeming to be encouraging people to come in at the final hour, because they allow those ballots to arrive after the polls close again. That doesn’t instill confidence in our elections. What it does is it weakens it.”

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced in a spot to Truth Social that he would lead a movement to get rid of mail-in-ballots and voting machines due to the potential they create for fraud and corruption.

In March, Trump signed an executive order titled, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.”

An aspect of the executive order is that absentee or mail-in ballots cannot be counted after Election Day.

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  Key committee chairman wants ban on counting ballots arriving after Election Day