The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states may continue counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day, provided those ballots were postmarked by the statutory deadline. In a closely divided 5-4 decision issued Monday, the justices rejected a challenge brought by the Republican National Committee (RNC), preserving election laws currently in place across more than a dozen states.
The case centered on whether federal law, which designates Election Day as the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, requires all mail ballots to be physically received by the close of polls. The Supreme Court concluded that the federal statute establishes the day voters must cast their ballots but does not specify when election officials must receive and count mail ballots.
Writing for the majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett explained that the federal election statutes address the timing of the election itself but do not impose a receipt deadline for mailed ballots. Chief Justice John Roberts joined Barrett and the court’s three liberal justices to form the majority. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson were not all in the same camp; instead, the court’s remaining four conservative justices dissented.
The ruling carries significant political implications ahead of November’s congressional elections, when Republicans are seeking to maintain control of both the House and Senate. Mail voting has become one of the most contentious election issues in recent years, with debates over ballot deadlines often dividing lawmakers, election officials, and advocacy groups.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized states that count ballots arriving after Election Day, arguing that election results should be finalized on election night. His administration’s Justice Department supported the RNC’s legal challenge, making the Supreme Court’s decision a setback for the president’s broader effort to tighten mail voting rules. Separately, an executive order signed by Trump earlier this year aimed at restricting eligibility for voting by mail remains tied up in ongoing litigation in lower federal courts.
The dispute also exposed divisions within the Republican Party. While the RNC sought to overturn Mississippi’s law allowing ballots to arrive up to five business days after Election Day, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson defended the state’s existing election procedures before the court.
Mississippi is one of 14 states that permit election officials to count ballots arriving after Election Day as long as they were mailed on time. Those states include Democratic strongholds such as California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington. Republican-leaning or politically competitive states including Alaska, Nevada, Texas, and West Virginia also have similar policies.
Support for Mississippi’s law extended beyond state officials. Organizations including the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and the Democratic National Committee backed the state’s position. Meanwhile, the RNC received support from the National Republican Congressional Committee, Citizens United, and a coalition of Republican-led states.
By affirming states’ authority to count timely postmarked ballots received after Election Day, the Supreme Court has preserved existing election practices in several states while ensuring that the legal battle over mail voting will likely continue in other forms as the 2026 election season intensifies.
