A federal appeals court on Friday ruled invalid a Mississippi law allowing election officials to count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by then.
The ruling came less than two weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election and could have implications for other states with similar laws. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit did not rule on how the state should handle ballots for this election, saying that a trial court judge should address the matter later.
The ruling opens a new tab by a conservative three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not strike down Mississippi’s law but called into question mail-in voting practices used in about 20 states nationally in a voting-rights fight that many predict will end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a state law allowing ballots to be received up to five days after Election Day.
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However, according to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office, the ruling will not go into effect until November 18, after the November 5 general election.
The decision is a win for the state and national Republican Party and others, who filed a suit in January to block state leaders from enforcing the 2020 law. The law allowed election officials to accept absentee ballots as long as they were postmarked on the day of the election and received no more than five days after it.
This is a fantastic win for election integrity. https://t.co/LH3Yy9AXP8
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) October 25, 2024
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