During the pandemic’s peak, the need to avoid public-facing contact was great. As elections approached, the difficulties of securing easy access to the polls was complicated by advice from the U.S. Postal Service that it could not assure timely delivery of ballots. State courts, secretaries of state and governors in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere responded by extending statutory deadlines for receipt of mail ballots or otherwise easing access.

But several justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have suggested that such equitable relaxations are barred by the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that the “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 1.