US Supreme Court to decide if states can count mail-in ballots received after election day News
Shisma, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
US Supreme Court to decide if states can count mail-in ballots received after election day

The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case that could dramatically impact mail-in voting practices in over two dozen states.

The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, challenges a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots postmarked by election day to be counted if received within five business days after an election. The Republican National Committee has argued this practice violates federal law under 3 U.S.C. § 1, which establishes that the president shall be “appointed” on “election day.”

In October 2024, a US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit panel ruled 3-0 that federal law requires ballots to be both cast by voters and received by state officials on election day, holding Mississippi’s law invalid. The court reasoned that three elements must occur on election day: official action, finality, and consummation. The judges held that if election officials are still receiving ballots, the election remains ongoing and thus cannot be consummated on election day.

The court denied rehearing the case en banc, which drew a sharp dissent from five judges, who argued the decision “runs counter to all the traditional tools of statutory interpretation” and threatens to invalidate voting laws in at least 28 states.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson petitioned the Supreme Court, arguing the Fifth Circuit misinterpreted both statutory text and precedent. Watson contended that “election” refers to the voters’ act of choosing candidates, which occurs when ballots are cast, rather than the subsequent administrative process of receiving and counting the ballots.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Spring 2026. The case stands to set important precedent regarding federal preemption of state election laws in what continues to be a contentious subject matter.

In August, President Donald Trump announced plans to issue an executive order that would eliminate mail-in voting. A federal district court judge in June blocked a previous executive order that sought to bar the counting of mail-in ballots received after election day.

The Fifth Circuit had previously ruled on adjacent issues relating to voting procedures, such as the 1997 case Foster v. Love, where the court struck down Louisiana’s practice of concluding elections before election day.

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