Posted originally on CTH on June 29, 2026 | Sundance

The Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 in favor of Mississippi -vs- RNC that state legislature can decide how long after election day that qualified election ballots cast may be received.  [PDF HERE] Essentially, federal election day is election day, but ballots can be received after election day for the length of time determined by state law.

Justice Barrett delivered the majority opinion, joined by Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson.

Justice Alito dissented along with Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.

The Hight Court outlined that congress could change the ability of the states by changing the statutory language of the federal election law to require ballots be received by election day.  As long as federal law does not outline the deadline for ballot reception, states can extend that process at their legislative discretion.  THIS IS A HOT MESS FUBAR!

[5-4 Ruling Here]

“The federal election-day statutes do not prevent Mississippi from counting absentee ballots postmarked by election day but received up to five days thereafter; nothing in the federal election-day statutes requires ballots to be received by election day.”

As noted by Samuel Alito in his well-written dissent, even during the U.S. civil war, soldier ballots had to be counted on “election day“, not days and weeks after.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney-Barrett have once again betrayed the foundational principle within constitutional language.  It is infuriating.