The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states are free to count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, so long as they are postmarked by then or election officials deem the ballots to have been cast on time.
The 5-4 decision is a significant loss for President Donald Trump, who has sought to crack down on mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterms. Trump has repeatedly argued without evidence that delays in tabulating votes fuel election fraud by Democrats.
Trump’s Justice Department and the Republican National Committee had urged the justices to strike down a Mississippi law that allows officials to count ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive up to five days later.
The Court’s Decision
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberals — Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — in concluding that federal laws governing House, Senate, and presidential contests are too vague to mandate that all votes be in the possession of election officials by Election Day.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.
The high court’s ruling allows about 30 states to continue their practice of providing a grace period in which some or all late-arriving ballots are tallied if they are postmarked by Election Day or officials determine they were cast by then.
Trump’s Reaction and Executive Actions
Earlier this month, Trump decried California’s practice of counting ballots that come in up to a week after elections there. “The Democrats are at it again!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, accusing Democrats of “trying to steal” primary elections. “Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of mail-in ballots.”
In March, Trump signed an executive order seeking to limit who has access to mail-in voting, directing the US Postal Service to only send mail-in ballots to people on an approved list of absentee voters. Last week, a federal judge blocked the USPS from implementing the order.
In another executive order signed last year, Trump told the Justice Department to take “all necessary action” to enforce federal Election Day statutes by ending the tallying of late-arriving mail-in ballots. A judge also blocked that provision.
The Bottom Line
The US Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s challenge to counting late mail-in ballots, ruling 5-4 that states may count ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive up to five days later. The decision allows about 30 states to continue their grace period practices. Trump has sought to limit mail-in voting through executive orders, but courts have blocked key provisions.
