The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Mississippi law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received within five days afterward, rejecting a Republican-led challenge and leaving similar state systems in place.
The 5–4 ruling preserves the state’s grace period and holds that federal election statutes do not require ballots to be received by Election Day.
The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, centered on Mississippi’s absentee voting rules, which allow ballots cast and postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within five days of that date.
The law applies to legally eligible absentee voters, including seniors, voters with disabilities, and others authorized under state law to vote by mail.
Writing for the majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices.
According to Reuters, Barrett wrote that federal election statutes establish Election Day as the deadline for casting a ballot but do not impose a requirement that ballots must be received by that date.
Barrett said the governing statutes “do not set a deadline for ballot receipt,” concluding that Mississippi’s law does not conflict with federal election requirements.
The majority said the dispute turns on statutory interpretation and that Congress, rather than the courts or individual states acting beyond federal law, would be responsible for setting any nationwide receipt deadline, according to ABC 10.
Justice Samuel Alito dissented, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.
Alito argued that Election Day is intended to function as a fixed national cutoff for federal elections and said allowing ballots to be counted after that date undermines the finality of election results.
Fox News reported that he wrote that treating ballots received after Election Day “undermines the meaning” of a single Election Day and effectively extends the voting period beyond what federal law contemplates.
Republican challengers, including the Republican National Committee and affiliated plaintiffs, argued that federal law requires both casting and receipt of ballots by Election Day.
They contended that states do not have authority to extend federal election deadlines through post-Election Day receipt windows or counting periods.
Mississippi defended its statute as a safeguard against postal delays and other logistical issues that can prevent timely delivery of ballots that were properly cast before Election Day.
Supporters of the law pointed to impacts on rural voters, military personnel, and overseas citizens who rely on absentee voting and are more likely to experience mail delays outside their control.
The ruling has implications beyond Mississippi.
At least a dozen states and several U.S. territories maintain similar grace period systems that allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive afterward.
Other states maintain comparable rules for military and overseas ballots under federal voting protections.
During earlier proceedings, the dispute was framed around whether federal election statutes establish a uniform nationwide requirement for ballot receipt or whether states retain discretion where Congress has not set explicit deadlines.
The Court’s decision resolves that question by rejecting the argument that federal law requires receipt by Election Day.
The ruling leaves existing state mail ballot systems in place and resolves the constitutional challenge without imposing a nationwide receipt deadline, maintaining the current framework used in multiple states ahead of future federal elections.
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