By The New York Times (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-25 21:24:56 | Updated at 2024-10-25 23:31:05
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The law required officials to count absentee ballots received by mail up to five days after Election Day.
- Oct. 25, 2024, 5:24 p.m. ET
A federal appeals court on Friday overturned a Mississippi law requiring officials to count absentee ballots received by mail up to five days after Election Day. Though the ruling might have come too late to change anything in the current election, experts said it could eventually undermine similar practices around the country.
A panel of judges on the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party and other plaintiffs who had challenged the law. They argued that the state had effectively extended each election beyond the date set by federal law.
The defendants, including Mississippi’s secretary of state, countered that although all votes must be cast by Election Day, states are free to take longer to receive and count the votes. In a written opinion, the judges on the panel disagreed.
“Congress statutorily designated a singular ‘day for the election’ of members of Congress and the appointment of presidential electors,” wrote Judge Andrew S. Oldham. “Text, precedent and historical practice confirm this ‘day for the election’ is the day by which ballots must be both cast by voters and received by state officials.”
The panel sent the case back to the district court that had sided with the defendants, telling the judge to reconsider the case. That means the lower court could still potentially allow late-arriving ballots to be counted this year.
The panel members said the lower court should give “ due consideration to ‘the value of preserving the status quo in a voting case on the eve of an election.’”
