The Supreme Court is rejecting a Republican-led attack on state laws that allow the counting of late-arriving mail ballots, a target of President Donald Trump.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day, a persistent target of President Donald Trump.

The decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

In just over half those states, the more forgiving deadlines apply only to ballots cast by military and overseas voters.

  • cattywampas@lemmy.world
    20·
    6 days ago

    Because that’s how the court system works. Somebody (in this case the RNC) sued and it was appealed up to higher court levels. Because this is a Constitutional issue as election management is explicitly given to the states in the Constitution, SCOTUS took it up and made a ruling.

    And yes if they had ruled the other way it would have affected elections, although it would have affected all states equally. At the end of the day the deadline is arbitrary anyway, we just have to pick what it is.