What Does A Three-Pointer Have To Do With Mail-In Ballots?

It's not the buzzer, it's when the ball left the hand.

I watched the video of Braylon Mullins’ three-pointer at the end UConn/Duke game this week. Wow.

But the point I want to draw from that is the rule in basketball about a ball in the air when the buzzer goes off, signaling the end of the game, a so-called buzzer beater:

A buzzer beater only counts if it leaves the player's fingers before the shot clock runs out. […] The term is most commonly applied to shots that win or tie the game as the game clock expires.

(via Wikipedia)

A simple appeal to sports logic carries over to mail-in ballots. It’s the time that the ballot is cast that matters, not when it’s received, just like buzzer-beaters. In US (gridiron) football, play does not stop when the clock runs out, it’s when the play ends.

So, we should not require mail-in ballots to be received on or before election day, because we believe in the underlying fairness of the buzzer beater.