The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 that states may continue counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day, provided those ballots were postmarked on or before Election Day.
The decision upholds Mississippi’s five-day grace period for absentee ballots and preserves similar laws used in roughly 30 states and the District of Columbia.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion stating, “the election-day statutes require the electorate’s choice to be made on election day. That occurs so long as election day is the deadline for individuals to vote—as it is in Mississippi. But the election-day statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt, so they do not prevent Mississippi from counting ballots postmarked before election day yet received afterward.”
Justice Alito in his dissenting opinion said, “from this Nation’s founding until the last few decades of the 20th century—a period that spans the enactment of all three election-day statutes—having an ‘election’ on a particular day meant completing ballot collection on that day.”
The ruling concluded that federal law establishes the date by which ballots must be cast but does not require election officials to receive mailed ballots by Election Day.
The case originated from a challenge brought by the Republican National Committee and other plaintiffs against Mississippi’s absentee ballot law. Election officials and voting rights advocates argued that eliminating grace periods would disenfranchise voters affected by postal delays, particularly military personnel, overseas citizens, and rural residents.
The ruling is expected to prevent widespread changes to election procedures ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and is likely to influence future legal disputes over mail voting nationwide.
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