“When Congress designated a single ‘day for the election,’ it set a deadline. If a state law extends the election after that deadline, ‘it conflicts with’ Congress’s timing decision ‘and to that extent is void,’” the RNC’s brief to the high court said.

“Since ‘the election concludes when all ballots are received,’ the Fifth Circuit held that Mississippi’s law allowing some late-arriving ballots to be counted is void,” the brief continued.

The RNC also pushed back on Mississippi’s claims that the Election Day set by Congress is the deadline for voters to cast their ballots, rather than a deadline for election officials to receive those ballots.

“Their theory suffers from another flaw too: it makes these preemptive statutes preempt nothing. The parties agree that in setting the uniform election day Congress directed when States could conduct federal elections,” the RNC said in its brief. “But under the Secretary’s and Intervenors’ theory, the ‘election’ is whatever each State says it is. Nothing prevents a State from allowing voters to deliver ballots after the election in whatever manner the States see fit, so long they ‘make their final “choice” on or before that day.’”

“If the election-day statutes say nothing about what must be done on election day, they say nothing at all,” the brief continued. “The Fifth Circuit rightly held that the ‘day for the election’ has a fixed meaning. It doesn’t mean whatever each State wants it to mean. It means the day by which ballots must be ‘received by state officials.’”

The case is expected to have sweeping ramifications for the roughly dozen states with similar late-arriving ballot laws. Opponents of late-arriving ballot laws point to the federal law setting Election Day on a specific date. They also stress how counting ballots that roll in after that deadline undermines public confidence in elections.

“These post-election receipt deadlines invite ‘the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election,’” the RNC brief said. “It’s hard to blame Americans for those suspicions when some States produce quick results, while others take days to even know how many ballots need to be counted.”

“When news anchors remind voters, ‘It’s not over yet,’ they’re right under any ordinary understanding. As long as ballots are still coming in, the election isn’t over,” the brief continued.

Mississippi officials argued in their brief, filed with the high court last month, that striking down the state law would have harmful wider effects on other state election provisions, including for military voters.

“As the world changed, States began to adopt different practices—as they have in many areas of election administration. History defeats the view that the federal election-day statutes block States from doing that,” Mississippi officials said in their brief.

SUPREME COURT WILL HEAR CHALLENGE TO LATE-ARRIVING BALLOT LAWS IN MARCH

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case at 10 a.m. on March 23, with a decision expected by the end of June — months ahead of the midterm elections in November.

The case is one of several the high court has heard this term that could shake up the midterm elections. The Supreme Court ruled last month in a case that opened the door to more election procedure challenges from candidates, and is expected to rule on cases that could affect campaign finance law and race-based redistricting in the coming months.