Supreme Court Backs States on Late Mail Ballots

National News - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can legally count absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day, as long as those ballots were mailed on time. The 5-4 decision in Watson v. Republican National Committee upholds a Mississippi law allowing election officials to count absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five business days later.

The ruling has direct relevance for Maryland voters. Like Mississippi, Maryland counts mailed ballots that are postmarked by Election Day even if they arrive at election offices afterward.

This case settles, for now, whether that kind of system is legal under federal law.

The lawsuit was originally brought by the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi. They argued that federal election-day statutes require all ballots to be received by Election Day, not just mailed by then. A federal appeals court agreed with them, striking down Mississippi's law before the Supreme Court stepped in.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion, explaining that federal law sets the day voters must cast their ballots, but leaves the receipt deadline up to individual states. She wrote that "the defining element of an 'election' has always been the electorate's choice of candidate," and that choice is made when voting is complete, not when ballots show up in the mail.

The Court pointed to a related federal law covering military and overseas voters, which assumes states already control their own ballot-receipt deadlines. Barrett noted that if federal law set a nationwide receipt deadline, that other law "would make little sense."

Four justices disagreed. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent, joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, with Justice Kavanaugh joining most of it. Alito argued that an election isn't truly finished until officials have every ballot in hand, warning that delayed counts could fuel public distrust and create what he called a "slurry of troubling election-law questions."

For Maryland residents, the practical effect is simple: your state's current system for counting mailed-in ballots stands on solid legal ground. Roughly 30 states nationwide use a similar approach, allowing some flexibility for ballots that are mailed on time but take a few extra days to arrive.