The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of counting mail-in ballots that arrive after election day, siding against national Republicans and the Trump administration. The 5-4 decision upholds a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of election day, provided they are postmarked by election day.
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion, stating that 'nothing in the federal election-day statutes requires ballots to be received by election day.' She was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, with Brett Kavanaugh joining in part.
The ruling maintains laws in 14 states, Washington DC, and three US territories that allow late-arriving ballots to be counted. Mississippi, a red state, defended its ability to set election procedures against a challenge from the Republican National Committee, which argued the grace period violated federal law setting election day as the first Tuesday in November.
Voting rights advocates praised the decision, with Sophia Lin Lakin of the ACLU stating: 'A ballot mailed on time is a vote cast on time... These voters did everything right – they followed the rules and got their ballots in the mail. They shouldn’t lose their voice because a postal truck ran late.'
President Trump called the ruling a 'tremendous loss' on Truth Social and renewed calls for Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voters. Despite his opposition to mail voting, records show Trump voted by mail in a recent special election in Florida.
