Ballots After Election Day? Supreme Court Could Strike Down the Chaos

Does counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day violate federal law? The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide in a case that pits conservative Mississippi against the Republican National Committee and Mississippi's own Republican Party.  

The United States has held federal elections on a single, uniform Election Day for nearly 150 years. In 1845, Congress chose one day—the Tuesday after the first Monday in November—to ensure every American votes under the same rules; that results are known promptly; and that the risk of fraud, delay, and post-election manipulation is minimized.

Today, Mississippi and at least 15 other states openly defy that federal mandate by counting mail ballots that arrive days or even weeks after Election Day. Mississippi began doing this as a COVID-19 measure but later made it permanent.

A U.S. district court sided with the Mississippi officials, but upon appeal, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the GOP groups.

"Federal law requires voters to take timely steps to vote by Election Day," Judge Andrew Oldham wrote in the 5th Circuit's unanimous decision. "And federal law does not permit the State of Mississippi to extend the period for voting by one day, five days, or 100 days."

An amicus—or "friend of the court"—brief filed Jul. 10 by the Center for Election Confidence (CEC), Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, and the Honest Elections Project urged the Supreme Court to hear the case, dubbed Watson v. Republican National Committee.

The brief notes that the Supreme Court has already held that by the end of the "day for the election," the completion of the "combined actions of voters and officials meant to make a final selection of an officeholder" must occur.

The filing adds that Congress even considered an amendment to the one-day election law that would have allowed states to count ballots after Election Day. Congress ultimately rejected it.

The Supreme Court's ruling will not affect states' ability to count ballots in state elections after Election Day, but it could at least put a stop to the drawn-out release of federal results.

The interests of the election integrity groups are straightforward—to strengthen election security and public confidence in the electoral process. Both aspects suffer when states drag out ballot counting long after the election has ended, often reversing Republican leads.

In 2024, California did not call a congressional race until December—a month after Election Day.

A North Carolina Supreme Court race lasted six months because the Republican candidate's 10,000-vote lead was wiped out by endless post-Election Day ballot counting.

"The longer it takes after election night for results to be reported, the less confidence American citizens have that the results accurately reflect the votes cast," CEC Executive Director Lisa Dixon told Restoration News.

The amicus brief notes that late receipt deadlines also hand custody of live ballots to third parties after citizens have already gone to the polls. Under Mississippi law, voters may hand their ballots to FedEx or UPS. Those companies openly advertise "delivery intercept" services that let a sender recall or reroute a package at any time. That means, in theory, there is nothing to prevent a ballot from being pulled back, altered, or replaced long after Election Day. 

"What's more, it is not obvious why Mississippi's reading would preclude a state from letting voters hang on to their own ballots, then deliver them sometime in the future," the brief adds. "At a minimum, Mississippi's theory means that States could authorize anyone—ballot harvesters, unions, political parties—to hold ballots for any period of time after Election Day without supplying proof of when they received those ballots."

But that is only part of the problem, according to Dixon.

"With the Postal Service reducing the number of mail pieces that receive postmarks, it is becoming increasingly difficult for states to confirm that ballots received after Election Day were actually cast on or before Election Day," she said.

The Supreme Court's review of Watson v. Republican National Committee can restore the clear, nearly 200-year-old federal mandate that federal elections end on Election Day. Affirming the 5th Circuit ruling would halt the growing practice of counting late-arriving mail ballots, a policy Congress explicitly rejected. This practice, needlessly continued since COVID-19, fuels distrust, invites third-party manipulation, and erodes confidence when election-night leads disappear after endless counting. Upholding the one-day rule ensures elections belong to voters who meet the deadline, not administrators or harvesters who prolong the contest.

(READ MORE: Trump Order: No Mail-In Ballots After Election Day, Fix Risky Overseas Voting)