In a closely-watched 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday the state of Mississippi’s law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after election day can stand — as long as those ballots are postmarked on or before election day.
Mississippi first passed the law in 2020. But the Republican National Committee — and President Trump — criticized it and similar measures elsewhere in the country, alleging they could lead to fraud.
In her majority opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in part, “Election fraud and its appearance are serious issues. Like other such issues, however, they must be addressed through the democratic process.”
Dissenting, Justice Samuel Alito wrote, “When someone votes by mail, it is harder for officials to verify the identity of the person requesting and completing the ballot.”
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According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a total of 14 states and the District of Columbia have laws that allow mail-in ballots to be counted after election day.
Several dozen more states allow ballots cast by members of the military and Americans living overseas to be counted late.
This ruling means those laws can stand.
In a statement to Scripps News, Joe Gruters, the Republican National Committee chair, said Democrats were “inviting chaos at the ballot box by allowing elections to drag on for days and weeks after voters cast their ballots.”
But voting rights groups celebrated the decision.
The ACLU and a coalition of groups that backed Mississippi’s law said Monday’s ruling “protects the fundamental principle that people should not lose their right to vote because of mail delays outside their control.”
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