U.S. Supreme Court upholds legality of Mississippi's absentee ballot return law
On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Watson v. Republican National Committee that federal law does not preempt a Mississippi law allowing absentee ballots to be received up to five days after the election.
Mississippi is one of 14 states that allow all valid absentee/mail-in ballots postmarked by election day to be counted if they arrive within a set period of time after the election. The state passed a law allowing for a five-day grace period in 2020. Thirty states, including Mississippi, allow at least some military or overseas ballots to be counted if they arrive after election day. The ruling means those laws will continue to be in effect.
