Supreme Court to Hear Major Challenge to Mail-In Ballot Laws
The Supreme Court said on Monday that it would hear a challenge to Mississippi’s counting of mail-in ballots received after Election Day, a case that could upend mail-in rules in dozens of states, creating chaos ahead of the 2026 elections.
The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, asks the justices to determine the meaning of “Election Day.” It is a potential blockbuster and adds to the court’s other elections and voting cases for the term, which include a case about who can sue to challenge Illinois’ mail-in ballot rules and a challenge to the Louisiana congressional district map that could gut a remaining pillar of the Voting Rights Act.
The Republican National Committee challenged Mississippi’s mail-in ballot rules, arguing that Congress had intended that voting take place on a single Election Day and that allowing ballots to arrive days later and still be counted undermined election integrity and the public’s trust in the vote.
Mississippi argued that Congress only set a date by when voters must make their choice, not the date by when ballots must arrive. Mississippi defended its grace period, which is similar to ones in place in many other states, as allowing elections officials to count ballots that have been mailed by Election Day but arrive a few days after.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, generally viewed as one of the nation’s most conservative appeals courts, sided with the R.N.C. The appeals court struck down Mississippi’s grace period, which let it count absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day if the ballots arrived up to five business days later.
Abbie VanSickle covers the United States Supreme Court for The Times. She is a lawyer and has an extensive background in investigative reporting."
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