Mail-in ballots must be received by election day (5 November) in order to count, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
In a case brought by the RNC and other groups including Judicial Watch, a panel of three Trump-appointed judges ruled Mississippi was violating federal law by allowing votes that arrive after election day to be counted.
“Congress statutorily designated a singular ‘day for the election’ of members of Congress and the appointment of presidential electors,” the 5th Circuit panel said.
“Text, precedent, and historical practice confirm this ‘day for the election’ is the day by which ballots must be both cast by voters and received by state officials.”
RNC chairman Michael Whatley hailed the decision as a “massive election integrity victory,” in a post on Twitter.
“The 5th Circuit has just ruled that ballots must be received BY ELECTION DAY to be counted — not days after — following an RNC lawsuit. This is a seismic win for fair, accurate, secure, and transparent elections.”
The 5th Circuit’s ruling will only cover the three southern states within its jurisdiction.
Other states that allow for late-arriving ballots include Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, California and New York.
As CNN reports, the ruling is likely to be used as the basis for post-election legal challenges in states that allow ballots to be counted after election day.
“Even as the ruling has no immediate effect on the coming election, it could help propel any legal challenges that Republicans seek to bring against any of the roughly other 20 states and jurisdictions that count ballots arriving after Election Day. Nevada’s policies allowing the late arrival of mail ballots are already being challenged in state and federal court by Republicans, but courts in those cases so far have rejected those arguments.”