JACKSON, Miss. — The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Mississippi’s law allowing absentee ballots sent by mail to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received within five business days afterward, rejecting a challenge brought by the Republican National Committee.
The decision, issued Monday, reverses a previous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which found the state’s five-day ballot receipt window conflicted with federal laws establishing Election Day for presidential and congressional elections.
The Supreme Court ruled that federal law requiring elections to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November is satisfied as long as absentee ballots are postmarked by Election Day. The court determined states may set deadlines allowing election officials to receive mailed ballots after Election Day.
The case centered on a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee challenging Mississippi’s absentee ballot law. A federal district court in Gulfport initially upheld the law before the Fifth Circuit overturned that decision. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case, and the high court ultimately reinstated the state’s law.
The Mississippi Center for Justice, working alongside the Elias Law Group, represented intervenors Vet Voice Foundation and the Mississippi Alliance for Retired Persons in defending the law. The attorney general’s office also defended the statute.
Rob McDuff, an attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice, said the ruling preserves voting access for absentee voters.
“Mississippi already makes it difficult to cast absentee ballots, which falls heavily on elderly and disabled people,” McDuff said in a statement. “The five-day window makes it a bit easier and, fortunately, the Supreme Court has upheld it so that it still applies in federal general elections as well as all other elections in Mississippi.”
Kimberly Jones Merchant, president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice, encouraged eligible absentee voters to request and return their ballots as early as possible despite the ruling.
“We don’t want people’s votes to go uncounted because they were not delivered, postmarked or received in time,” Merchant said.
The decision allows Mississippi to continue counting absentee ballots received within five business days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked no later than Election Day. The ruling also affects other states with similar absentee ballot receipt deadlines.
