In a blow to the integrity of U.S. elections, the Supreme Court upheld state laws permitting election officials to accept postmarked ballots after Election Day on Monday. The ruling was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the court’s liberal justices in the majority.
The dispute in Watson v. RNC dates back to 2024, when the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Mississippi GOP filed a lawsuit against a Mississippi election law governing late-arriving ballots. The plaintiffs alleged that the law authorizing mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day to be accepted up to five days after the day of the election violates existing federal laws establishing an Election Day for federal contests.
