Supreme Court debates MS absentee voting procedures
MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – Mississippi’s absentee voting procedures are being debated in Washington, D.C. today.
The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments to determine if Mississippi’s law that allows election workers to count mail-in absentee ballots up to five days after Election Day, provided they were postmarked on or before Election Day, violates Federal law.
The Republican-controlled legislature passed the law in 2020 during the COVID Pandemic to provide for a possible increase in absentee voting.
In 2024, the Mississippi Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, along with a voter and a county election official, sued in Federal court to challenge the 5-day grace period, saying it conflicted with Federal law that sets the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as Election Day, making no provision for any other days to count votes.
A Federal District Court judge ruled that the Mississippi law did not violate Federal law, but his ruling was reversed by a panel of judges from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mississippi is one of 18 states and the District of Columbia that accept mail-in ballots after Election Day.
President Trump has claimed the practice lends itself to voter fraud.
According to the Associated Press, Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart, who is presenting the state’s side of the case, said today that neither the president nor his allies have submitted a single case of fraud due to late-arriving mail ballots.
A decision could come by late June.
