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WASHINGTON — Rejecting a Republican National Committee challenge, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that elections officials may count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day if they were postmarked beforehand.
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The court, divided 5-4, held that the Mississippi law challenged by the RNC does not unlawfully conflict with the federal law that sets Election Day in early November.
The ruling, authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is a setback for President Donald Trump, who has frequently criticized mail-in voting, claiming without offering evidence that it is rife with fraud. Two of the court’s conservatives were joined by the three liberals in the majority.
The decision avoids an election-year upheaval of state election laws. The Mississippi law and similar measures in 13 other states will remain in effect ahead of November’s midterm elections, when voters will decide which party controls the House and the Senate.
The laws in question allow late-arriving ballots to be counted as long as they were mailed by the Election Day deadline. California, New York and Texas are among the other states with such laws.
President Donald Trump addressed what he called a “tremendous loss in the Supreme Court” on Truth Social Monday, saying, “it is more important than ever to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT” through Congress. He said the legislation would require all voters to show photo ID, proof of citizenship and it would ban mail-in ballots except in certain cases.
“There is no excuse for a politician, or otherwise, to be against the above three requirements. There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING!” Trump wrote. “The House of Representatives has approved this vital Act, THREE TIMES. The United States Senate seems unable to do so.”
NBC News recently reported that hundreds of thousands of people voted via such late-arriving ballots in the 2024 elections, a small but notable proportion of the total vote count.
A win for the RNC would have raised questions about laws affecting voters who live overseas, including members of the military. In total, 29 states allow extended deadlines for such voters, according to a brief filed by former national security officials.
The Mississippi law allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after Election Day as long as they were sent beforehand.
The RNC, the state’s Republican Party and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi all challenged the measure. The state’s Republican attorney general, Lynn Fitch, defended the law in court.
Mississippi appealed to the Supreme Court after the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in October 2024 that under federal law, ballots must not just be cast but also received by state officials by Election Day.
Federal law dictates that Election Day is on “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November,” but each state administers its own elections.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrated the high court’s ruling Monday, saying in a statement that the justices “upheld this bedrock American principle: if you cast your ballot on time, your vote will count.”
“As the midterm elections approach, Trump and his allies are working overtime to silence Americans’ votes. Senate Democrats will continue to do everything we can to protect free and fair elections, where everyone’s voice is heard,” he said.
Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, said that voters shouldn’t lose their voices because a political party wants to change the rules. “This ruling respects state authority over election administration and prevents needless confusion for voters and election officials,” he said.
And Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, said in a statement, “Since the Civil War, states have permitted grace periods for receiving absentee votes. Today, a narrow majority of the Court correctly recognized that nothing in federal law requires states to end that practice and thereby disenfranchise voters. The Legal Defense Fund will continue to oppose efforts to undermine the voting rights of Americans who rely on mail-in ballots to participate in the democratic process.”
Lawrence Hurley is a senior Supreme Court reporter for NBC News.
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