The Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law allowing mail ballots received days after Election Day to be counted, rejecting arguments that under federal law, mail ballots must be received by Election Day to count.
The high court ruled 5-4 on Monday to uphold the Mississippi law, finding that federal law does not preempt state laws allowing the counting of ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive up to five days later. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Three federal statutes set the day for the election of Representatives, Senators, and the President,” Barrett wrote. “A Mississippi law permits the counting of absentee ballots postmarked by election day but received up to five days later. We must decide whether the federal election-day statutes preempt Mississippi’s law. They do not.”
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Watson v. Republican National Committee in March, and a majority of the justices had expressed an uneasiness over the implications of allowing the Mississippi law to stand by defining “Election Day” as when voters make their decisions, rather than when the state receives their ballots. Several of the justices appeared concerned about the mess that continuing to allow late-arriving mail ballots to count could cause in conducting elections.
SUPREME COURT WORRIED THAT COUNTING LATE MAIL BALLOTS COULD UNDERMINE CONCEPT OF ‘ELECTION DAY’
The ruling is expected to have ramifications for the November elections in the 14 states that have laws allowing mail ballots to be received anywhere from days to weeks after Election Day.
Watson is one of four election-related cases the Supreme Court heard this term, alongside cases dealing with candidates’ ability to sue over election laws, campaign finance laws, and race-based congressional redistricting.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.