Supreme Court Upholds State Law Allowing Late-Arriving Mail-In Ballots in 5-4 Watson Decision

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Mississippi's 2020 law allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received within five days, ruling 5-4 in Watson v. Republican National Committee 1234. Writing for the majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett held that federal election-day statutes require the voter's choice to be made on Election Day but impose no deadline on ballot receipt, leaving Mississippi's grace-period law intact 12. The Republican National Committee, Mississippi Republican Party, and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi had challenged the law, arguing it conflicted with the federal statute designating the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as Election Day 13. In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito argued that holding "an election" on a given day had historically meant completing ballot collection on that day, from the founding through the late twentieth century 1.