SCOTUS to decide legality of late-arriving mail ballots
Image: CBS News
The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments later today in a case that could significantly change how mail-in voting is carried out in states across the country.
Some quick background
The case, Watson v. RNC, centers on a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after Election Day, as long as they’re postmarked on or before Election Day.
Mississippi is one of 14 states with similar rules extending deadlines by a few days or weeks. The largest such window is found in Washington state, where ballots can be counted up to three weeks after Election Day so long as they’re mailed on time.
But…Not everyone agrees with this approach. The Republican National Committee and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi sued the state in 2024, arguing that federal law establishes a single Election Day and not a rolling deadline.
Several states, including Kansas, Ohio, Utah, and North Dakota, have already eliminated grace periods in recent years, requiring ballots to be received by Election Day.
The arguments
At its core, this case presents a simple question for SCOTUS: does Election Day mean your ballot has to be sent by then, or actually received?
- Supporters of the current system say states have the constitutional authority to run their own elections, including setting ballot deadlines, without federal interference.
- They also note that grace periods ensure legally cast votes aren’t thrown out due to mail delays (which are common for military and overseas voters), and argue that eliminating these windows would end up disenfranchising legal voters.
On the flip side: Opponents of extending mail-in ballot deadlines argue the line should be drawn at Election Day, since late-arriving ballots can invite fraud—or the appearance of fraud—and create unnecessary confusion with delayed election outcomes.
They also argue that a patchwork of different state ballot deadlines is precisely what Congress was trying to fix when it set a uniform Election Day in the 19th century.
Zoom out: SCOTUS currently has two other election-related cases on its docket, with Justices also weighing changes to the Voting Rights Act and spending caps for political parties. Decisions in all three cases are expected before the end of the Court’s term in late June.
đź“Š Flash poll: In your opinion, should mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but not delivered until after still be counted towards results?
See a 360° view of what pundits are saying →
Sprinkles from the Left
- Some commentators argue that ballots posted by Election Day should be counted so that no one should be disenfranchised by slow mail service, and that this issue was widely seen as noncontroversial before Trump and Republicans began their baseless attacks on mail-in voting and false election fraud claims.
- Others contend that state systems allowing late-arriving mail-in ballots to be counted days or weeks after elections may aim to maximize voting access—but the system has failed due to repeated delays in results, with the late election decisions causing Americans to lose confidence in the democratic process.
- “I Protected Mail-in Voting in 2020. Now I Will Be Defending It at the Supreme Court.” –Marc Elias, Democracy Now
- “California’s Slow Vote Counting Is a Gift to Republicans” –NY Times Editorial Board
- “Signed, sealed, delivered — but when?" –Albany Times Union Editorial Board
Sprinkles from the Right
- Some commentators argue that SCOTUS should eliminate the policy of counting mail ballots received days after the election, since late vote counting drives suspicions, undermines confidence in the system, and is unnecessary when states can simply move up deadlines by a few days.
- Others contend that Election Day should be a hard deadline for mail-in ballots, since widespread lax deadlines have introduced slack into the election system, and opposing that transformation of US elections doesn’t require buying into Trump’s wildest fraud claims, and also needn’t be partisan.
- “Court will hear case of post-election ballot counting” –Las Vegas Review-Journal Editorial Board
- “Late Mail Ballots at the Supreme Court” –WSJ Editorial Board
- “The Supreme Court can make Election Day great again” –Washington Examiner Editorial Board
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