Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a772_h3dj.pdf
Page Number: 3.0

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

3 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

Third Circuit made little effort to explain how its interpre-
tation  can  be  reconciled  with  the  language  of  the  statute.
In my view, however, it appears that elements 2 and 5 are 
clearly not met.1 

I will start with element 2.  When a mail-in ballot is not 
counted because it was not filled out correctly, the voter is
not denied “the right to vote.”  Rather, that individual’s vote 
is not counted because he or she did not follow the rules for 
casting a ballot.  “Casting a vote, whether by following the
directions for using a voting machine or completing a paper
ballot, requires compliance with certain rules.”  Brnovich v. 
Democratic National Committee, 594 U. S. ___, ___ (2021) 
(slip op., at 16).  A registered voter who does not follow the 
rules may be unable to cast a vote for any number of rea-
sons.  A voter may go to the polling place on the wrong day 
or after the polls have closed.  A voter may go to the wrong
polling place and may not have time to reach the right place
before it is too late.  A voter who casts a mail-in ballot may 
send it to the wrong address.  A State’s refusal to count the 
votes  of  these  voters  does  not  constitute  a  denial  of  “the 
right to vote.”  Even the most permissive voting rules must 
contain some requirements, and the failure to follow those 
rules constitutes the forfeiture of the right to vote, not the 
denial of that right.

Element  5  weighs  even  more  heavily  against  the  Third
Circuit’s interpretation.  This element requires that the er-
ror or omission be “material in determining whether such
individual is qualified under State law to vote in such elec-
tion.”  There is no reason why the requirements that must
be met in order to register (and thus be “qualified”) to vote 
should be the same as the requirements that must be met
in  order  to  cast  a  ballot  that  will  be  counted.    Indeed,  it 

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1 Elements 1 and 3 are satisfied, but for the reasons explained below,
see n. 2, infra, the Third Circuit’s interpretation is not consistent with
the most natural reading of element 4.