Cite as: 609 U. S. ____ (2026) 1 ALITO, J., dissenting SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES _________________ No. 24–1260 _________________ MICHAEL WATSON, MISSISSIPPI SECRETARY OF STATE, PETITIONER v. REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT [June 29, 2026] JUSTICE ALITO, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS and JUSTICE GORSUCH join, and with whom JUSTICE KAVANAUGH joins as to all but Parts II–C–2 and III, dissenting. Federal law designates “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November” as “election day,” 3 U. S. C. §21, and provides that elections for federal office must be held on that date. See 2 U. S. C. §§1, 7; 3 U. S. C. §1. As the Court explains, an election is “the expression of the electorate’s choice,” ante, at 7, but because the electorate is a collective body consisting of many individuals, the way in which it expresses its choice is less straightforward than would be the case if the electorate were a single individual. If the electorate were an individual, it could issue a document declaring that specified men and women were selected to fill the federal offices for which the candidates had competed, but because the electorate is a collective body, it cannot express its selections in that way. Instead, its choices are embodied in the collection of ballots cast by the individuals who make up the electorate. Taken all together, this collection is the equivalent of a single document declaring the winner of each race. This expression of the electorate’s choices is conveyed to the responsible election officials when the collection of individual ballots is completed. At that point, the