Supreme Court allows mail-in ballots after Election Day

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Updated: 6:21 PM CDT Jun 29, 2026

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Jackie DeFusco

Washington Correspondent

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states can continue to count mailed-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, a practice that has been criticized by President Donald Trump.

The decision prevents a major shakeup in voting rules a few months before midterm elections that will decide control of Congress, among other state and local races. It preserves laws in more than half of the states and D.C. that accept ballots that arrive within a certain period after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

“The ruling upholds our longstanding ballot return rules, which support accessible and fair elections,” Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in a news release.

The court's majority specifically upheld a Mississippi law permitting the counting of absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days later.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wrote the majority opinion, said federal election laws don't currently specify a deadline for when ballots need to be received, but Congress could change that.

"When voting on different days in different States sparked allegations of fraud, Congress set a nationally uniform deadline for voting. If varied deadlines for ballot receipt similarly call for a national solution, the American people must choose it through their elected representatives," Barrett wrote.

In a dissent, Justice Samuel Alito argued that counting late ballots "creates a serious risk of further undermining public confidence in our elections."

Trump echoed those concerns on social media. He called the ruling a “tremendous loss” and once again called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a package of proposed voting changes that has long stalled in the Senate.