'We don't have a democracy': Stephen Miller rips prolonged vote counting after SCOTUS loss

WASHINGTON, DC: Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller renewed his criticism of prolonged ballot counting after the Supreme Court upheld state laws allowing election officials to count some mail ballots received after Election Day.

His remarks quickly drew sharp criticism online. They also underscored Republicans' continued opposition to mail ballot rules despite the party's legal setback at the nation's highest court.

Stephen Miller renews mail ballot criticism

Speaking in a Fox News interview on Monday, June 29, Miller argued that counting ballots over several days erodes trust in elections.

"Well, it could be potentially extremely damaging. If you have a situation like we saw in California in Los Angeles, where every single day ballots continue to tilt the election in ever more improbable, and ultimately impossible, ways, then we don't have a democracy," Miller said.

He continued by arguing that prolonged counting weakens confidence in the electoral process.

"We have no faith in our election system or in our ability to count the ballots," Miller said. "We have 53 Republican senators, and I know everyone says this senator won't vote for it or that senator won't vote for it, but that's because there's no consequence for not doing so."

His comments came after the Supreme Court delivered Republicans an unexpected defeat by leaving in place state laws allowing election officials to count mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive later.

Supreme Court rejects GOP-backed challenge

In a 5-4 decision arising from a Mississippi case, the court rejected a Republican-backed challenge to policies in California and 13 other states, most of them led by Democrats, that permit counting qualifying mail ballots after Election Day.

The Republican National Committee had asked the courts to block those ballots from being counted.

California allows mailed ballots to arrive within seven days after Election Day if they were postmarked on time. While that process can delay final election results, the Washington Post reported it has not been shown to produce fraud or unreliable vote totals.

"More than 400,000 late-arriving ballots were counted in California during the 2024 election, accounting for roughly 2.5% of the statewide vote. Election law specialists instead pointed to expanded vote-by-mail and the time needed to verify signatures as reasons final results can take longer," the Irish Star reported.

Online criticism follows Stephen Miller's remarks

Miller's comments prompted criticism on X, where the meme account Spiro's Ghost accused him of knowingly spreading false claims.

"He is a despicable lying piece of garbage — made worse because he 100% knows he is lying," the account wrote.

Separately, Bloomberg Law reported that Miller was a driving force behind a Justice Department legal opinion that would allow states to institutionalize people with disabilities, citing people familiar with the matter.

The report said Miller opposed continued Civil Rights Division settlements promoting community-based care, while a June 18 Office of Legal Counsel opinion aligned with that position after initial resistance from division leaders.

The Justice Department disputed Bloomberg Law's account. Spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said the Office of Legal Counsel's analysis "was reached completely independently of the White House or Stephen Miller" and added that any suggestion otherwise "is false."