Supreme Court allows states to count mail-in ballots that arrive late, rejecting RNC challenge

WASHINGTON — Rejecting a Republican National Committee challenge, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that elections officials may count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day if they were postmarked beforehand.

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The court, divided 5-4, held that the Mississippi law challenged by the RNC does not unlawfully conflict with the federal law that sets Election Day in early November.

The ruling, authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is a setback for President Donald Trump, who has frequently criticized mail-in voting, claiming without offering evidence that it is rife with fraud. Two of the court’s conservatives were joined by the three liberals in the majority.

The decision avoids an election-year upheaval of state election laws. The Mississippi law and similar measures in 13 other states will remain in effect ahead of November’s midterm elections, when voters will decide which party controls the House and the Senate.

The laws in question allow late-arriving ballots to be counted as long as they were mailed by the Election Day deadline. California, New York and Texas are among the other states with such laws.

NBC News recently reported that hundreds of thousands of people voted via such late-arriving ballots in the 2024 elections, a small but notable proportion of the total vote count.

A win for the RNC would have raised questions about laws affecting voters who live overseas, including members of the military. In total, 29 states allow extended deadlines for such voters, according to a brief filed by former national security officials.

The Mississippi law allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after Election Day as long as they were sent beforehand.

The RNC, the state’s Republican Party and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi all challenged the measure. The state’s Republican attorney general, Lynn Fitch, defended the law in court.

Mississippi appealed to the Supreme Court after the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in October 2024 that under federal law, ballots must not just be cast but also received by state officials by Election Day.

Federal law dictates that Election Day is on “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November,” but each state administers its own elections.