WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that Mississippi may continue counting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days afterward, rejecting a challenge brought by the Republican National Committee and the Mississippi Republican Party.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion in Watson v. Republican National Committee, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Barrett wrote that federal election-day statutes require the electorate's choice to be made on Election Day, which occurs as long as Election Day is the deadline for casting a vote, as it is under Mississippi law. The statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt, she wrote, and therefore do not bar Mississippi from counting ballots postmarked before Election Day but received afterward.
Justice Samuel Alito dissented, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh joining in part. Alito wrote that counting late-arriving ballots effectively postpones the date on which the electorate's choice is made, which he said federal law precludes.
The ruling reverses a 2024 decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which had found Mississippi's law preempted by federal law. Mississippi's law, enacted in 2020, allows absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within five business days to be counted. According to Votebeat, 14 states and the District of Columbia currently maintain similar grace periods.
President Donald Trump, who had supported the challenge through a Justice Department brief, called the ruling a "tremendous loss" in a social media post and renewed his call for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and state Attorney General Lynn Fitch, both Republicans, said they would urge the state legislature to amend the law despite the ruling. The Supreme Court is expected to issue its remaining opinions of the term this week before breaking for summer recess.
