Overview
- The justices agreed to hear a case centered on a Mississippi law that challenges counting ballots postmarked by Election Day but received later, with oral arguments not yet scheduled.
- Officials report that in 2024 at least 725,000 ballots were accepted after Election Day in 14 states and territories that allowed postmarked late arrivals, while a federal dataset shows about 104,000 were rejected for lateness.
- Roughly 18 states and territories currently permit counting postmarked ballots that arrive after Election Day, but Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, and Utah have since shifted to receipt-by-Election-Day rules.
- Election administrators say voter education and procedural adjustments could reduce late rejections, yet they warn some ballots will still arrive after deadlines, including from rural areas and military or overseas voters.
- Pennsylvania illustrates the stakes: about 10,000 late ballots were counted under a 2020 court-ordered grace period, but 6,816 were rejected in 2024 under the state’s receipt-by-Election-Day requirement.