A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Mississippi’s law allowing mail-in ballots to be received up to five days past Election Day violates federal law, a decision that could upend other states’ voting rules. But it did not block the measure before the election.
The three-judge panel for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reasoned that Congress created one day for a federal election.
“Federal law requires voters to take timely steps to vote by Election Day. And federal law does not permit the state of Mississippi to extend the period for voting by one day, five days or 100 days. The state’s contrary law is preempted,” the opinion read.
The court, though, declined to use an injunction to block the law, suggesting the decision may not affect Mississippi’s handling of mail-in ballots for the Nov. 5 election.
The opinion acknowledged the judges were “giving due consideration to ’the value of preserving the status quo in a voting case on the eve of an election.’”
The panel of judges, all Trump appointees, included Judges Andrew S. Oldham, James C. Ho and Kyle Duncan.
They noted, though, that not all ballots “must be counted on Election Day.”
“Even if the ballots have not been counted, the result is fixed when all of the ballots are received and the proverbial ballot box is closed. The selections are done and final. By contrast, while election officials are still receiving ballots, the election is ongoing: The result is not yet fixed, because live ballots are still being received,” the opinion read.
The ruling reverses a decision by the district court, which sided with the state in a lawsuit brought by the Republican National Committee.
Mississippi had extended the period of time for receiving ballots for five days past Election Day during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state kept the change after the pandemic ended, prompting the challenge.
The appeals court decision could curtail voting laws in other states.
More than 18 states and territories allow ballots to be received past Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Mississippi is not a battleground state, but Nevada and Ohio are, and both have similar mail-in ballot laws.
Maryland, which is not a battleground state but has a close race for a U.S. Senate seat, allows mail-in ballots to be counted for up to 10 days as long as they were postmarked on time, according to NCSL.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.