The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear Republican National Committee v. Watson, challenging Mississippi’s policy of counting absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days later. The Republican National Committee and allies argue this violates federal law establishing a single Election Day, following a Fifth Circuit ruling in their favor. Opponents, including voting rights groups, contend a decision against grace periods could disenfranchise military, rural, and overseas voters in at least 18 states, with implications for the 2026 midterms.

The case seeks to uphold a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which struck down a Mississippi law unconstitutionally allowing election officials to count mail-in ballots received up to five days after Election Day

BREAKING: The Supreme Court will take up the case of Watson v. Republican National Committee– which will decide if mail-in ballots received after Election Day can be counted.

At least 18 states allow this– including Nevada, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/bpZXO4cTkU

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 10, 2025

Judges are being asked to define the true meaning of “ELECTION DAY.”

BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court to hear case determining if states can count mail-in ballots that are received AFTER Election Day.

18 states currently allow late ballots to be counted.

THIS IS MASSIVE. pic.twitter.com/WHQtMwdl43

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 10, 2025

Justices agree to decide major election law case

By Amy Howe, SCOTUS Blog, Nov 10, 2025

Setting the stage for a major ruling on election law, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether federal law requires ballots to be not only cast by voters but also received by election officials by Election Day. As part of the list of orders from the justices’ private conference on Friday, the court took up Watson v. Republican National Committee, a challenge by the Republican National Committee and others to a Mississippi law (as well as similar laws in 30 other states and the District of Columbia) that allow mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are received within five business days after Election Day.

The dispute began in 2024, when the RNC – along with the Mississippi Republican Party and two individuals – went to federal court to challenge the Mississippi law. Their case was later joined with a similar case brought by the Libertarian Party of Mississippi.

A federal judge in Gulfport, Mississippi, upheld the law, rejecting the challengers’ contention that it conflicted with federal law. Senior U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola explained that, according to Supreme Court precedent, “Congress set a national election day to avoid the ‘evils’ of burdening citizens with multiple election days and of risking undue influence upon voters in one state from the announced tallies in states voting earlier. Neither of those concerns,” he concluded, “is raised by allowing a reasonable interval for ballots cast and postmarked by election day to arrive by mail.”

The challengers appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which reversed Guirola’s decision. It ruled that federal election law, which sets the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the “election” day for federal offices, requires all ballots to be received by that day. The full 5th Circuit declined to rehear the case, over a dissent by five judges.

Mississippi appealed to the Supreme Court in June. It argued “an ‘election’ is the conclusive choice of an officer” – which occurs by the deadline as long as voters cast their ballots by then, even if election officials do not receive them by that day. With the 2026 elections looming, “[s]tates need to know whether federal law permits post-election-day ballot-receipt laws—and thus whether they must change their laws to comply with federal law or whether they may change their laws on policy grounds.” Moreover, the state added, “[t]he stakes are high: ballots cast by—but received after—election day can swing close races and change the course of the country.”

The Republican National Committee urged the justices to leave the 5th Circuit’s ruling in place, pointing to the prospect that “chaos and suspicions of impropriety … can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election.” Allowing ballots that arrive after Election Day to be counted also takes away from “the time to resolve post-election disputes,” the RNC wrote, and “deprive[s] the electorate of a clear nationwide deadline that ‘puts all voters on the same footing.’”