Legal Fellow, Meese Center A man waits outside the Luzerne County Board of Elections where people drop off and request for mail-in ballots on October 22, 2020 in Pennsylvania. SOPA Images / Contributor / Getty Images Key Takeaways Absentee-ballot deadlines have been a major contention—especially when federal judges extend them well beyond Election Day. An avalanche of election-related litigation has been filed in courts across the country. The quantity and complexity of these lawsuits so close to an election emphasizes the importance of the Supreme Court’s Purcell principle. With Election Day just days away, and early voting already underway in many states, the election-related lawsuits have been piling up, and court decisions (and appeals) have been coming out at a dizzying rate.