Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limits
The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
What happened
The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear a case that could decide how — and when — mail-in ballots for federal elections are counted.
The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, is the “latest of several high-profile voting cases” the court has taken up this term, said CNN.
Who said what
More than two dozen states allow mail-in ballots postmarked before Election Day to be counted days later, a “grace period” that “aids voters — including military personnel — whose ballots are delayed for reasons outside their control,” said Politico. The justices agreed to consider the challenge from the RNC and Mississippi Republicans and Libertarians over a state law that allows mail-in votes to be counted up to five days after Election Day.
The “conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit invalidated that law, finding that federal law requires all ballots to be received by Election Day,” The Washington Post said. Mississippi urged the Supreme Court to reverse the ruling, arguing in a brief that it “invites nationwide litigation against laws in most states — risking chaos in the next federal elections.”
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What next?
The Supreme Court is expected to issue its “potential blockbuster” rulings on this and “two other crucial elections-related cases” by the “end of June or early July,” The New York Times said. A decision overturning Mississippi’s law “could upend mail-in ballot rules in dozens of states” in time to roil the 2026 midterm elections.
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