Supreme Court Rejects Republican Bid to Limit Late-Arriving Mail Ballots
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states may count mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive afterward, rejecting a Republican challenge to Mississippi’s ballot deadline law.
In a 5-4 decision in Watson v. Republican National Committee, the Court reversed a 5th Circuit ruling and held that federal election-day statutes set the deadline for voters to cast ballots, not the deadline for election officials to receive them. Mississippi allows eligible absentee ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received within five business days.
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The ruling preserves late-arrival grace periods in states that use similar rules and avoids forcing election officials to rewrite mail-ballot procedures before the 2026 midterms. Reuters reported the case had implications for similar practices in roughly 30 states and Washington, D.C.
The decision drew immediate political reaction, with voting-rights advocates praising it and Trump criticizing the outcome.
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