US Supreme Court Accepts Challenge to Mail-In Ballot Counting Law

Big League Politics, 11/10/40 PM

The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear a major election-integrity case challenging state laws that allow mail-in ballots to be counted after Election Day — a move conservatives say could restore long-lost trust in America’s elections.

At issue is whether states such as Mississippi and Illinois can continue counting mail ballots that arrive in the days following Election Day, so long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Roughly 18 states and the District of Columbia currently allow this practice.

The Mississippi case, which the Court accepted Monday, questions whether federal law — which sets a single, nationwide Election Day for choosing members of Congress and the presidency — preempts state laws that effectively extend that period by several days.

Mississippi’s attorney general has argued that such extensions undermine the “uniform Election Day” standard and threaten to sow confusion and doubt about late-arriving ballots.