Mississippi Law Allowing Ballots to Be Received After Election Day Ruled Lawful by Judge

A Mississippi law that permits the counting of ballots received up to five days after an election is lawful, according to a federal judge’s ruling on July 28.

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. cited the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which governs ballots from overseas citizens, in his decision.

“So if one federal statute implicitly allows post-election receipt of overseas ballots mailed by election day, that statute is presumed not to offend against the election-day statutes, from which one may infer that the similar Mississippi statute on post-election receipt is likewise inoffensive,” Judge Guirola wrote in his 24-page ruling.

The ruling dismissed cases brought by the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi. The Mississippi law mandates that officials count absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day, provided they are received within five business days after the election.

The U.S. Constitution’s elections and electors clause grants Congress the authority to set Election Day for determining electors for president and vice president, as well as the date for voters choosing members of Congress. Congress subsequently established a single day for selecting electors and voting for members.

Republicans contended that the Mississippi law “contravenes those federal laws” by effectively extending Mississippi’s federal election past the Election Day established by Congress. They argued the law forced them to spend money to educate voters on the post-Election Day receipt deadline and sought to have the law declared illegal and blocked from enforcement.

Mississippi officials countered that the law does not directly conflict with federal statutes, as those statutes do not specify whether ballots must be received on or by Election Day.

Judge Guirola acknowledged that Republicans and the Libertarian Party did establish standing by showing they were harmed by the law. However, they failed to demonstrate that the law is illegal or unconstitutional. He referenced prior court rulings, including a 2023 district court ruling upholding an Illinois law that allows ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted if received up to 14 days after Election Day. In that case, the judge noted that the attorney general of the United States “often seeks court-ordered extensions of ballot receipt deadlines to ensure that military voters are not disenfranchised.”

“These longstanding efforts by Congress and the executive branch to ensure that ballots cast by Americans living overseas are counted, so long as they are cast by Election Day, strongly suggest that statutes like the one at issue here are compatible with the Elections Clause,” Judge Guirola stated.

In the absence of federal law regulating absentee mail-in ballot procedures, states retain the authority to establish their lawful time, place, and manner boundaries. Since the Mississippi law is legal, there are no violations of plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, Judge Guirola concluded.