WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Mississippi and other states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day, a persistent target of President Donald Trump.
The 5-4 decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.
In just over half of those states, the more forgiving deadlines apply only to ballots cast by military and overseas voters.
“This decision protects the fundamental principle that people should not lose their right to vote because of mail delays outside their control,” read a statement this morning from a coalition of groups supporting Mississippi’s law, including the ACLU of Mississippi, the League of Women Voters, the Center for Rural Strategies, the American Association of People With Disabilities and Disability Rights Mississippi. “The Court recognized what states, Congress, and voters have understood for generations: federal law does not require states to discard timely-cast ballots simply because they arrive after Election Day.
“Today’s ruling preserves critical protections for voters with disabilities, rural communities, older voters, working families, and countless Americans who depend on absentee voting to participate in our democracy,” the statement continued.
The court heard arguments in March in the case from Mississippi pitting the state against Trump’s Republican administration and the Republican and Libertarian parties. At issue was whether federal law sets a single Election Day that requires ballots to be both cast by voters and received by state officials.
The federal appeals court in New Orleans struck down the Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of the election and are postmarked by Election Day.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the court’s majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices.
The legal challenge was part of Trump’s broader attack on most mail balloting, which he has said breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and years of experience in numerous states. Trump has repeatedly claimed that his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 resulted from fraud, even though more than 60 court decisions and his own attorney general said that argument had no merit.
Despite the victory, Mississippi’s Republican attorney general, Lynn Fitch, expressed support for Trump’s ultimate goal in a statement after the ruling Monday.
“With the bedrock constitutional principle of federalism now affirmed, I am hopeful that the Mississippi Legislature will take this opportunity to amend the law and require absentee ballots be received on the same day ballots are cast at the polling place,” she said. “President Trump is right to prioritize improving public trust in our elections.”
