WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Supreme Court issued a decision upholding voters’ rights and permitting Mississippi voters’ ballots that are cast on time to be counted after Election Day according to state law. The decision reverses the Fifth Circuit’s incorrect interpretation of federal Election Day statutes, which would have invalidated decades-old absentee ballot receipt laws and disenfranchised voters who followed all election rules but faced postal delays beyond their control.
The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Mississippi, on behalf of the League of Women Voters, Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural, Center for Rural Strategies, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), and Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS), filed an amicus brief arguing that the Fifth Circuit’s decision would have disrupted states’ ability to determine mail-ballot receipt rules in their own state and, depending on the needs of their voters, disproportionately harmed voters with disabilities, rural voters, older voters, military and overseas voters, and working people who rely on absentee voting.
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The coalition released the following statement:
“This decision protects the fundamental principle that people should not lose their right to vote because of mail delays outside their control. The Court recognized what states, Congress, and voters have understood for generations: federal law does not require states to discard timely-cast ballots simply because they arrive after Election Day. Today’s ruling preserves critical protections for voters with disabilities, rural communities, older voters, working families, and countless Americans who depend on absentee voting to participate in our democracy.”
The organizations emphasized that the ruling preserves states’ flexibility to administer elections in ways that reflect local realities and protects longstanding election practices relied upon by voters nationwide.
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