Supreme Court Holds Federal Election-Day Statutes Do Not Bar Mississippi From Counting Postmarked Absentee Ballots Received After Election Day
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Plain-English Summary
The Republican National Committee and allied plaintiffs sued Mississippi, arguing that federal election‑day statutes require absentee ballots to be received by Election Day. The Fifth Circuit had held Mississippi's law preempted, but the Supreme Court reversed. Justice Barrett wrote that the statutes speak only to when ballots are cast, not when they must be received. The Court affirmed Mississippi’s practice of counting ballots postmarked by Election Day but received within five business days.
Legal Question
The precise issue was whether the federal election‑day statutes—3 U.S.C. §1 and 2 U.S.C. §§1, 7—preempt a state rule that permits absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received up to five days later. The question required interpreting the word “election” in those statutes and assessing any conflict with the Constitution’s Elections Clause and prior precedent such as Foster v. Love.
Holding
The Court held that the federal election‑day statutes do not prevent Mississippi from counting absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day but received within five days, finding no statutory conflict. The decision was issued by a 5‑4 majority—Justices Barrett, Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson joined the opinion. Justice Alito authored a dissent joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, with Justice Kavanaugh joining all but two sections of the majority opinion.
Reasoning
The Court began by applying the ordinary‑meaning canon, noting that at the time Congress enacted the statutes, "election" meant the electorate's choice, not ballot receipt (New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira; Webster dictionary). It cited United States v. Classic to define an election as the expression of voters' choices. The opinion emphasized that the statutes regulate when ballots are cast, as shown by Congress’s amendment tying "election day" to the period of voting (3 U.S.C. §21(1)). The Court turned to UOCAVA, which presumes state authority over receipt deadlines, to reinforce that receipt is not federally mandated. It rejected the plaintiffs’ historical argument, stating that statutes do not “trap in amber” past practices (United States v. Rahimi). The Court noted that the Constitution’s Article II clause sets a uniform day for voting but is silent on receipt, supporting the separation of casting and counting. Finally, it concluded that any preemption applies only where a direct conflict exists, which it did not find here (Foster v. Love).
Broader Impact
The ruling clarifies that states may retain receipt deadlines later than Election Day when their statutes require ballots to be postmarked by Election Day, affecting roughly 30 states with similar absentee rules. Lower courts must interpret federal election‑day statutes using the ordinary‑meaning approach and cannot automatically preempt state receipt provisions. The decision resolves the Fifth Circuit’s split with the Supreme Court, guiding other circuits on preemption analyses. Future disputes will likely focus on whether Congress chooses to amend the federal statutes to impose a nationwide receipt deadline, a question the Court left open.
Sections beyond the plain-English summary are AI-synthesized analysis based on the available opinion excerpt from CourtListener, read, edited where needed, and approved by a human editor before publication. Full methodology: Editorial & Methodology.
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