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BumRushDaShow

(173,710 posts)
Mon Jun 29, 2026, 10:08 AM 6 hrs ago

Supreme Court endorses post-Election Day mail-in ballot counting ahead of midterms

Source: Courthouse News Service

June 29, 2026

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court ruled against Republicans’ attack on mail-in ballots on Monday, shoring up election rules in over a dozen states ahead of the midterms.

Nearly 200 years ago, Congress mandated federal elections be held uniformly on one Tuesday in November every other year. Accordingly, all states require ballots to be cast by federal Election Day. But since states have authority over the time, manner and places of such elections, nearly 30 states and the District of Columbia allow at least some ballots that are cast by Election Day to be counted if they are received soon after that.

In 2020, the Mississippi Legislature enacted one such law, permitting absentee ballots to be counted as long as they were postmarked on or before the date of the election and received by the registrar no more than five business days after the election. The Republican National Committee argued that in practice, Mississippi’s law meant the election no longer ended on Election Day.

When the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in March, the conservative justices worried that without finality on Election Day, the public would lose trust in the electoral process. However, the liberal justices balked at their conservative colleagues’ policy concerns, noting the question before them was whether federal election statutes barred states from making such laws. The state says its law ensures ballots are not rejected because of minor mail delivery delays. Republicans argue election officials’ convenience comes at the cost of the Constitution.

Read more: https://www.courthousenews.com/supreme-court-endorses-post-election-day-mail-in-ballot-counting-ahead-of-midterms/



Link to ORDER (PDF) - Watson v rnc - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1260_g3cn.pdf
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Supreme Court endorses post-Election Day mail-in ballot counting ahead of midterms (Original Post) BumRushDaShow 6 hrs ago OP
We won one there! creeksneakers2 6 hrs ago #1
I am shocked by this one Bettie 6 hrs ago #2
I am shocked! sheshe2 6 hrs ago #3
5-4 - Roberts and Barrett joined the liberals for this (nt) muriel_volestrangler 6 hrs ago #4
Whoo Hoo!! MarineCombatEngineer 6 hrs ago #5
Not to shocking to me. As the article states, the language in the Constitution on this issue is clear and unambiguous Cheezoholic 6 hrs ago #6
Deadline Legal Blog-Supreme Court sides 5-4 against Republicans to uphold mail-in ballot grace periods LetMyPeopleVote 6 hrs ago #7
Roberts has a pattern of doing things like this: YodaMom2 5 hrs ago #8

Cheezoholic

(4,144 posts)
6. Not to shocking to me. As the article states, the language in the Constitution on this issue is clear and unambiguous
Mon Jun 29, 2026, 10:28 AM
6 hrs ago

Its the post marked by election day part that would be hard for the court to ignore. Ruling against this would open the door for a calamity of cases against states rights. That's why I think it's hard to ignore states rights here considering how plain the language of the law is, even with this court IMO.

LetMyPeopleVote

(184,158 posts)
7. Deadline Legal Blog-Supreme Court sides 5-4 against Republicans to uphold mail-in ballot grace periods
Mon Jun 29, 2026, 10:29 AM
6 hrs ago

It’s the high court’s latest election-related ruling ahead of the November midterms.

In a win for voting rights, the Supreme Court says mail-in ballots received after election day WILL count.

www.ms.now/deadline-whi...

MS NOW (@ms.now) 2026-06-29T14:24:19.385Z

https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/supreme-court-mississippi-mail-ballots-watson

The Supreme Court sided against Republicans on Monday in the court’s latest election-related ruling ahead of the November midterm elections, in a decision that will allow late-arriving mail ballots to be counted.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the opinion for a 5-4 court, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three Democratic appointees, over dissent from Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Rejecting a GOP challenge, Barrett said federal election laws don’t pre-empt Mississippi’s law that has a five-day grace period for counting ballots that are postmarked by Election Day.

According to the Voting Rights Lab, 30 states have mail ballot grace periods for at least some voters: 14 states and Washington, D.C., have them for all mail ballots, while 16 more states have them specifically for military and overseas voters.....

The Trump administration supported the GOP’s challenge, as President Donald Trump has railed against mail ballots while making unproven voter fraud claims. At the March hearing, Mississippi’s lawyer said the federal government has “sounded the anti-fraud theme” but couldn’t show “a single example of fraud from post-Election Day ballot receipt in this century.”

YodaMom2

(248 posts)
8. Roberts has a pattern of doing things like this:
Mon Jun 29, 2026, 11:03 AM
5 hrs ago

He joins a decision that makes him seem like a reasonable “balls and strikes” constitutionalist, and then follows it with some psycho, fascist decision, one he needs cover for. End to birthright citizenship, perhaps?

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