Supreme court upholds counting of late ballots in Mississippi case

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that federal election law did not overrule state laws permitting election authorities to count ballots postmarked by Election Day, but received days later.

"Three federal statutes set the day for the election of Representatives, Senators, and the President. A Mississippi law permits the counting of absentee ballots postmarked by election day but received up to five days later," wrote Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. "We must decide whether the federal election-day statutes preempt Mississippi’s law. They do not."

The 5-4 decision saw Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson join with Barrett.

"So even if plaintiffs are right about Mississippi law, they would still lose the challenge they have pressed in this litigation: that post-election-day ballot receipt is itself unlawful," she wrote. "The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose."