{"id":2427935,"date":"2025-04-27T07:22:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T11:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-could-soon-weigh-legality-of-late-arriving-ballots\/"},"modified":"2025-04-27T07:27:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T11:27:26","slug":"supreme-court-could-soon-weigh-legality-of-late-arriving-ballots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-could-soon-weigh-legality-of-late-arriving-ballots\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court could soon weigh legality of late-arriving ballots"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsupreme-court-could-soon-weigh-legality-of-late-arriving-ballots%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2427935&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Supreme Court may soon be asked to rule on the legality of counting ballots that arrive after election day, a significant issue arising from a case in Mississippi. A federal judge has postponed proceedings in a lawsuit backed by the Republican National Committee regarding the state&#8217;s policy of accepting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day, provided they are received within five business days after. This policy has been challenged on the grounds that it allegedly violates federal election laws that require ballots to be received by the specified Election Day. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously sided with this view, reversing a district court&#8217;s decision that upheld the state&#8217;s practice. <\/p>\n<p>Currently, 17 states allow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alaskas-elections-should-encourage-clear-choices-and-clear-winners-by-tim-griffin\/\" title=\"Alaska\u2019s Elections Should Encourage Clear Choices and Clear Winners. \u2013 By Tim Griffin\">late-arriving ballots<\/a> under similar conditions, and the legal dispute mirrors a broader push by Republican leaders to reinforce election procedures. If the Supreme Court decides to take the case, it could clarify whether states can permit the counting of ballots after the official Election Day, an issue of urgency as the next presidential election approaches. The last significant ruling related to this topic occured in 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, when the court allowed some flexibility for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-dismisses-rnc-lawsuit-to-block-mississippi-from-counting-late-ballots-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Judge dismisses RNC lawsuit to block ... from ... ... - Washington Examiner\">counting late ballots<\/a>. The decision from the Supreme Court, if issued, could set a nationwide precedent on mail-in voting practices.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Supreme Court could soon weigh legality of late-arriving ballots<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tpd-featured-video\">\n<div id=\"Brid_21235\" class=\"brid\" style=\"width:1280;height:720;\"> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Supreme Court\">Supreme Court<\/a> could soon be asked to decide whether states can continue counting ballots that arrive after Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>A federal judge in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mississippi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Mississippi\">Mississippi<\/a> this week indefinitely halted court proceedings in a Republican-backed lawsuit challenging the state&rsquo;s ballot receipt deadline, signaling that state officials must petition the Supreme Court for review in order for litigation to proceed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3390415\/trump-transgender-troops-ban-supreme-court-order-pete-hegseth\/\">Trump seeks Supreme Court intervention in transgender troops ban<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3388907\/judge-rebukes-aclu-improper-voicemail-deportation-case\/\">Judge rebukes ACLU for improper voicemail in deportation case<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3388658\/california-defends-ban-gas-vehicles-supreme-court\/\">California defends its right to ban gas vehicles at the Supreme Court<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Election workers process ballots for the 2024 general election, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo\/Morry Gash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;All District Court proceedings in the above-styled consolidated cases are hereby STAYED pending the filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court and the conclusion of any Supreme Court proceedings on the merits,&rdquo; U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola wrote in his <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.mssd.123732\/gov.uscourts.mssd.123732.116.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">order<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit, brought by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republican-national-committee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Republican National Committee\">Republican National Committee<\/a>, the Mississippi Republican Party, and several voters, challenges Mississippi&rsquo;s policy that allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received up to five business days later.<\/p>\n<p>Plaintiffs argue the practice of accepting the late ballots violates federal law, which sets a uniform Election Day for federal contests, and they warn that counting ballots after that date risks diluting timely, valid votes. Their complaint also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/imperfect-call-biden-repeatedly-pressured-afghan-president-to-change-withdrawal-optics-whether-it-is-true-or-not\/\" title=\"Imperfect Call: Biden Repeatedly Pressured Afghan President To Change Withdrawal Optics, \u2018Whether It Is True or Not\u2019\">raises constitutional concerns<\/a> under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.<\/p>\n<p>Although a district court initially upheld Mississippi&rsquo;s policy, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision last fall, weeks before Election Day, finding that the five-day window conflicts with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-nevada-a-corrupt-cash-for-votes-scheme-is-hiding-in-plain-sight\/\" title=\"In Nevada, A Corrupt Cash-For-Votes Scheme Is Hiding In Plain Sight\">federal election law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Early postwar iterations of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">absentee voting universally required receipt<\/a> by Election Day. After the Civil War ended, most States eliminated field voting,&rdquo; the 5th Circuit wrote in its decision last year.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Even today, a substantial majority of States prohibit officials from counting ballots received after Election Day. In January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, only 14 States and the District of Columbia accepted ballots postmarked by Election Day&mdash;with the other 36 requiring receipt on or before that date,&rdquo; the 5th Circuit majority added.<\/p>\n<p>The appeals court&rsquo;s decision was not binding on the November election and the case was sent back to the district court for further proceedings. Now, the next step would be for Mississippi to file a petition to the nation&rsquo;s highest court for further consideration.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> the legal battle raises significant questions about federal election law and could soon demand the high court&rsquo;s attention.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is an important case just in general regarding what the Federal Election Day statutes actually mean, and whether or not it&rsquo;s legal for states to allow late ballots to come in after Election Day,&rdquo; Snead said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very clearly headed to the Supreme Court &mdash; whether or not they&rsquo;ll take it, I don&rsquo;t know, but even if they decide it&rsquo;s not right for review yet, there are likely to be future opportunities with circuit splits emerging.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Currently, 17 states, including Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted even if received afterward. High-population states such as California, Texas, Ohio, and Nevada are among those following this practice.<\/p>\n<p>The legal battle comes amid a broader push by President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> and Republican leaders to tighten election procedures. <\/p>\n<p>In March, Trump signed an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/03\/preserving-and-protecting-the-integrity-of-american-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"executive order\">executive order<\/a> reinforcing the Election Day deadline and directing the Justice Department to enforce it against states allowing late-arriving ballots, a move that has already triggered lawsuits from Democratic-led states.<\/p>\n<p>Snead said the 5th Circuit&rsquo;s reasoning is strong, particularly its conclusion that voting is not completed simply by mailing a ballot, but only when it is received and processed by election officials.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I do think some degree of certainty here would be helpful,&rdquo; Snead said. &ldquo;Ideally, we would resolve this before the next presidential election, before we find ourselves in the crucible of an October or November surprise or a post-election challenge in the next presidential cycle.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The last time the Supreme Court weighed a similar case was back in October 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when state laws were adjusted to accommodate more mail-in ballots &mdash; a move that Trump railed against as one of thecauses of his defeat to Joe Biden.<\/p>\n<p>In a decision declining to take up one of the most high-profile election debates at the time, the Supreme Court allowed election officials to count late-arriving ballots as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3.<\/p>\n<p>Several of the high court&rsquo;s Republican-appointed justices &mdash; Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas &mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/20pdf\/20-542_2c83.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"said they would have agreed\">said they would have agreed<\/a> to the stay request. But Chief Justice John Roberts, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, joined the court&rsquo;s three Democratic-appointed members to reject the request.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3390893\/judge-partially-blocks-proof-of-citizenship-voting-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"JUDGE PARTIALLY BLOCKS PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP VOTING RULE\">JUDGE PARTIALLY BLOCKS PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP VOTING RULE<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thomas issued a long and tersely-worded dissent at the time, saying the majority&rsquo;s refusal to settle this longstanding issue &ldquo;is befuddling.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>If the Supreme Court ultimately steps in, it could bring nationwide clarity on mail-in voting and clarify whether final ballot counting should be conducted by Election Day, or whether there is any wiggle room for additional tabulations for late-arriving ballots.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_21235\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"playlist\":\"21235\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court may soon rule on counting late ballots<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2427936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Supreme-Court-.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[33739,54156,33741,32275,32570],"class_list":["post-2427935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-election-law","tag-late-arriving-ballots","tag-legality","tag-supreme-court","tag-voting-rights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Supreme-Court-.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2427935"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2427939,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427935\/revisions\/2427939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2427936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2427935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2427935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2427935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}