The Supreme Court upheld mail-in ballot grace period laws on Monday, ruling 5-4 that states can count ballots postmarked by Election Day even if they arrive days later, in a major victory for voting rights advocates and a setback for the Republican National Committee’s challenge to the practice.
The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, centered on a Mississippi law allowing election officials to count absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days after it. Justice Amy Coney Barrett authored the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the liberal wing—Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“The election-day statutes require the electorate’s choice to be made on election day,” Barrett wrote. “That occurs so long as election day is the deadline for individuals to vote—as it is in Mississippi. But the election-day statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt, so they do not prevent Mississippi from counting ballots postmarked before election day yet received afterward.”
Mississippi is one of roughly 30 states that count at least some absentee ballots mailed by Election Day but received afterward, according to the Supreme Court opinion. Eighteen states and territories, including California, Illinois, and New York, have such grace period laws, while a dozen additional states extend grace periods for ballots from overseas voters like military members.
The grace periods have historically provided voters time to get their ballots to officials in case of postal service delays or other unforeseen issues. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs noted that more than 250,000 ballots postmarked on time arrived after Election Day during the 2024 election, and “had this rule been in effect, those voices would have been silenced, especially in rural areas where mail delivery can take longer.”
Justice Samuel Alito authored the dissent, writing that the majority’s holding “spawns a slurry of troubling election-law questions and risks further undermining Americans’ confidence in election integrity.” The Republican National Committee and Trump campaign have been fighting these grace periods in recent years, arguing that Congress, not states, sets the end of an election.
Voting rights advocates celebrated the decision. Samantha Tarazi, CEO of the Voting Rights Lab, said the ruling “avoids the chaos of a last-minute overhaul to state election rules—and it’s a major setback for the Trump administration. It protects the voices of military voters, rural voters, and millions of other Americans who vote by mail.”
The ruling comes just four months before the 2026 midterm elections and marks the latest legal rebuke to the Trump administration over election policy. Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked key parts of a Trump executive order seeking to restrict mail-in voting.
Sources
- NPR — The Supreme Court’s decision upholding Mississippi’s grace period law, the vote breakdown, Justice Barrett’s majority opinion language, state-by-state breakdown of grace period laws, and voting rights advocates’ reactions.
- Supreme Court — The official Watson v. Republican National Committee opinion (24-1260), confirming Mississippi’s five-day grace period, the roughly 30-state figure, and the legal reasoning.
- Washington Secretary of State — Statement on the impact of grace periods, citing 250,000 ballots postmarked on time but arriving late in 2024.
