The Supreme Court announced Monday it would decide if states can continue to count late-arriving mail-in ballots. The court took up an appeal from Mississippi, where a state law that allowed counting of ballots that arrived after Election Day was found to violate federal law.
Mississippi is one of 18 states that accept mailed ballots postmarked on or before Election Day. Fourteen other states allow the counting of ballots from some eligible voters, like service members and their families stationed overseas.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
According to The Associated Press, the high court will hear the case in late winter or early spring, with a ruling expected by late June. That means the court’s decision would be in effect during the 2026 midterm election.
What is the case’s background?
The Republican National Committee and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi led the challenge to the state law. In Nevada, a federal judge dismissed a similar case, but the groups that filed the challenge appealed the decision.
President Donald Trump has said ballots that arrive late and drawn-out elections undermine voting confidence. Trump previously signed an executive order stating that votes need to be “cast and received” by Election Day.
In the Mississippi case, Judge Andrew Oldham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that Congress created a “singular” day for voters and election officials. Judges James Ho and Stuart Kyle Duncan joined Oldham’s opinion for the appellate panel to invalidate Mississippi’s law.
The ruling reversed U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr.’s decision, which found no conflict between the state and federal laws.
In a court filing, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asserted that states possess broad discretion in how they manage their elections. She wrote that no federal law prohibits states from accepting ballots submitted after Election Day, provided the voters had cast them before Election Day.
