Supreme Court says ballots that arrive late can still count, as long as they were mailed on time

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, as long as they were sent on time. The 5-4 decision is a loss for Republicans, who wanted those late-arriving ballots thrown out.

The case centered on a Mississippi law that lets election workers count mail ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five business days later. The Republican National Committee sued, arguing that federal law sets a hard deadline and ballots have to be in election officials' hands by Election Day itself, not just sent by then.

The court disagreed. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's three liberal justices. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. Barrett's opinion found that federal election day laws don't say anything about when ballots have to be received, so they don't block states from setting their own grace periods.

Because Mississippi's law stands, similar laws in roughly 30 other states, including California, will also stay in place heading into the November midterms.

It's a setback for President Trump, who has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that mail-in voting is full of fraud. His administration had backed the Republican challenge. Following the ruling, Trump posted on Truth Social pushing Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would tighten mail voting rules nationwide and add voter ID and citizenship-proof requirements.