A US federal court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee (RNC) challenging Mississippi’s statute that permits counting validly cast mail-in ballots for up to five business days after election day. U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the Southern District of Mississippi concluded that since no federal law regulates absentee vote-counting, states retain the authority to set their own procedures. The judge clarified that Mississippi’s statute is consistent with federal law, including the Elections Clause, the Elector’s Clause, and election day statutes.
The U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause authorizes Congress to regulate national elections and stipulates that states must manage the specific logistics if federal law does not cover certain aspects of the election. According to Judge Guirola’s decision, Mississippi’s law, which mandates that mail-in ballots be sealed and postmarked by election day, aligns with these federal provisions. The ruling referenced a previous decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirming the lawfulness of allowing votes to be cast before election day, supporting that counting ballots submitted on time but arriving late is also lawful.
The Fifth Circuit has not previously adjudicated on whether ballots received after election day can be counted. Should there be an appeal to the present ruling, the Fifth Circuit will examine this issue. For more details on the court’s ruling, you can review the full documentation here.