On Sunday, a Mississippi law that permits counting of validly cast mail-in votes for up to five business days after the election day was challenged by the Republican National Committee (RNC) in a US federal court. However, the challenge was dismissed.
In a recent ruling, Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi stated that the regulation of absentee vote-counting procedures falls under the purview of individual US states. The judge emphasized that there is no federal law governing this matter. In his decision, Judge Guirola ruled that the Mississippi state statute aligns with federal law and does not contradict the Elections Clause, the Elector’s Clause, or the election day statutes.
The US Constitution’s Section 4, also known as the Elections Clause, grants Congress the authority to regulate national elections. In cases where there is no federal law governing a particular aspect of an election, the Elections Clause requires states to manage the remaining details of federal elections, which includes determining the “time, place and manner of electing Representatives and Senators.” Additionally, the Electors Clause of the Constitution mandates that the election day must be uniform throughout the entire United States.
In order to comply with Mississippi law, mail-in ballots must be sealed and postmarked on or before the day of the election.
The court referenced a ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which stated that allowing some voters to cast their votes before election day does not violate federal election statutes because the final selection is not made until federal election day. Therefore, the court concluded that it is legal to count ballots that were submitted on time but arrived late, as voting before election day is permissible. The appeals court emphasized that states have significant leeway in designing their electoral systems and that Congress did not intend to hinder citizens from exercising their right to vote.
The question of whether votes that are received after election day can be considered has never been addressed by the Fifth Circuit. The present ruling, if appealed, will give the Fifth Circuit an opportunity to explore this issue.