Supreme Court Set to Decide if Mail-In Ballots Can Be Counted After Election Day
Teh U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging state laws that allow mail-in ballots received after Election Day to be counted, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. The case originated in Mississippi, were the Republican National Committee (RNC) contested a law permitting ballots to be counted if received up to five business days after Election Day. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court ruled in favor of the RNC, stating that federal law requires voting to be completed by Election Day and that state laws extending this period are preempted. The ruling cited the Constitution and a federal law from 1845 establishing a uniform Election Day.
Currently, 31 states and the District of Columbia permit counting late-arriving mail-in ballots if properly postmarked. The Trump administration has supported the 5th Circuit’s decision. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch petitioned the Supreme Court, arguing the need to clarify whether federal election day statutes override state laws allowing ballots to be received after that day. The Supreme Court’s decision will determine if postmarked ballots received after Election Day can be counted, with oral arguments expected next year and a ruling expected before the 2026 midterm elections.
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a case challenging state laws that allow mail-in ballots received after Election Day to be counted.
The case originated in Mississippi, where the Republican National Committee challenged a law allowing mail-in ballots that are received up to five business days after Election Day to be counted. The ballots must also be postmarked by the election’s date.
The 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals ruled in favor of the RNC last fall, deciding, “Federal law requires voters to take timely steps to vote by Election Day. And federal law does not permit the State of Mississippi to extend the period for voting by one day, five days, or 100 days. The State’s contrary law is preempted.”
The appeals court cited the Constitution’s Article II, Section 1, clause 4, and wrote, “‘The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors’ for president.”
In addition, Congress passed a law in 1845, establishing “uniform time” for appointing presidential electors as the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
The Center Square reported that 31 states and the District of Columbia allow the counting of mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day, if they are properly postmarked.
The Trump administration supported the 5th Circuit’s ruling, with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon posting about the case on the social media platform X.
“Election Day means Election DAY! Stay tuned!” she wrote.
👀
Election Day means Election DAY! Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/GBgshWWXd1
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) November 10, 2025
“In June, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, a Republican, asked the Supreme Court to take up the issue,” Politico reported.
In her petition to the court, Fitch claimed the question is, “whether the federal election-day statutes preempt a state law that allows ballots that are cast by federal election day to be received by election officials after that day.”
“The Fifth Circuit in this case held that the federal laws setting the federal ‘election’ day preempt a Mississippi law allowing absentee ballots cast by election day to be received shortly after that day,” she contended. “That ruling defies statutory text, conflicts with this Court’s precedent, and — if left to stand — will have destabilizing nationwide ramifications.”
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court to hear case determining if states can count mail-in ballots that are received AFTER Election Day.
18 states currently allow late ballots to be counted.
THIS IS MASSIVE. pic.twitter.com/WHQtMwdl43
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 10, 2025
The high court’s justices will have to decide whether a postmarked ballot satisfies the requirement of a ballot being cast by Election Day.
Oral arguments are expected to take place next year and a decision will be handed down before the 2026 midterm elections.
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