Supreme Court appears skeptical of counting late-arriving mail ballots in Mississippi case
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority sounded skeptical Monday of state laws that allow late-arriving mail ballots to be counted as it heard a challenge from Mississippi that could affect voters in 13 other states and the District of Columbia, the court heard. A ruling is expected by late June, in time to affect the counting of ballots in the 2026 midterm elections.
Lawyers for the Republican and Libertarian parties and the Trump administration asked the justices to affirm an appellate ruling that struck down a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of the election and are postmarked by Election Day, court filings show. Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart told the court that the challengers have not produced a single case of fraud tied to late-arriving mail ballots.
Several conservative justices raised concerns about how late ballots could affect election outcomes. Justice Samuel Alito asked about the appearance of fraud if “a big stash of ballots” that arrive late “radically flipped” an election. Justice Neil Gorsuch warned ballots could be received until the start of the next Congress, and Justice Elena Kagan said the logic of the challenge could be used to attack early voting and absentee ballots. Chief Justice John Roberts appeared the conservative member most likely to side with Mississippi, observers said.
The court’s liberal justices signaled they would uphold state laws with post‑Election Day deadlines. “The people who should decide this issue are not the courts, but Congress, the states and Congress,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said. State and big-city election officials told the court in a written filing that forcing states to change practices shortly before an election risks “confusion and disenfranchisement,” and cited states including California, Texas, New York and Illinois, as well as Alaska.
The issue before the justices is whether federal law requires ballots to be both cast and received by Election Day. In striking down Mississippi’s grace period, Judge Andrew Oldham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the state law violated federal law. The unanimous 5th Circuit ruling was joined by Judges James Ho and Stuart Kyle Duncan, who, like Oldham, were appointed by President Donald Trump. Last year, Trump signed an executive order seeking to require votes to be “cast and received” by Election Day; that order has been blocked in pending litigation, and the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Voting Rights Lab say four Republican-dominated states eliminated grace periods last year.
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