So if you vote on election day but your ballot doesn't get counted in time I guess your shit outta luck?
Not exactly. This applies to mail in ballots with the correct postage date but received after election Day. It's bullshit IMO. If you got your vote in the mail by election Day then it should count.
It does make sense in a way, but you would think they would give a little bit of leeway.
They shouldn't have to wait like 2 weeks before calling the results to make sure all the mail in votes have made it in, but maybe at least give it a day or two.
The cases where mail in ballots received after election day actually make a difference is negligible. This is a non-issue, and elections are generally called well before all votes are counted anyways.
The more important principle here is that all legal votes should be counted. This is just another tool in the arsenal of vote suppression enthusiasts on the right to use when the time is right (GOP in power again so they can aggressively ratfuck the USPS again just before the election).
We just had an election in my area where mail in ballots flipped a seat which was already considered won by conservatives and will potentially be the deciding factor between a minority and majority government, and they weren't counted officially until almost 10 days after election day.