SCOTUS has ruled that Mississippi’s state law permitting counting mail in ballots arriving after election day controls the election process there. SCOTUS found the state law is not pre-empted by current Federal laws.
Supreme Court rules mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day can be counted
A decision against such ballots could have upended election procedures in states across the country ahead of the midterm elections.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Mississippi law that allows officials to tally mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive later, a decision that keeps voting procedures in place in several states as the midterm elections loom. In an 5-4 ruling, the justices turned aside a challenge by Republicans and Libertarians, who argued federal law preempts a Mississippi statute that allows the counting of such ballots that arrive up to five days after polls close.
The decision could make less likely similar legal challenges in 14 states that allow the counting of ballots that arrive days or weeks after polls close. Most states require mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day.
President Donald Trump and some Republican allies have falsely argued that voter fraud is rampant in mail-in balloting. Trump partly blamed his loss in the 2020 presidential election on mail-in votes and unsuccessfully called on states to stop tallying them during the contest.
Republicans in a number of states have launched legal challenges to mail-in voting, which has grown in popularity since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. One study found
about 1 in 3 voters voted by mail in 2024, but the practice is more widespread in Democratic-leaning states.
