Illinois case before SCOTUS could provide glimpse into Mississippi’s mail-in ballot challenge

• Republicans in Mississippi and around the country seek to roll back extended timelines for receiving and counting ballots after an election day.

A case being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court could provide a glimpse into Mississippi’s effort to uphold a COVID-era state law that allowed for ballots to be received and counted up to five days after an election.

On Wednesday, justices will hear arguments in an Illinois case that allows mail-in ballots to be received and counted within two weeks of an election. That law was challenged by Congressman Mike Bost (R), among others, in 2022, saying it equates to an illegal extension of voting beyond federal limits.

After two lower courts threw out Bost’s lawsuit over standing, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal.

Should justices agree with Bost, it could put Mississippi’s pending case, and other similar cases around the country, in the spotlight as Republicans seek to roll back the extended timeline for receiving and counting ballots.

In the Mississippi case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rehear a previous ruling from March by a three-judge panel, upholding the panel’s decision in April that Mississippi cannot count ballots that arrive after Election Day. In doing so, the court sided with the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, the Mississippi Libertarian Party and two private individuals in affirming the prior decision. Ten judges voted to deny a rehearing and five voting in favor.

As previously reported in July 2024, the plaintiffs sued Harrison County election officials, along with Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, in their official capacities, seeking an injunction against the 2020 mail-in ballot law based on the Election Law Clause of the U.S. Constitution. That clause gives Congress the authority to set the time for choosing the election of the president, senators, and members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. initially dismissed the lawsuit, writing that the Mississippi law “is consistent with federal law and does not conflict with the Elections Clause, the Electors’ Clause, or the election-day statutes.” However, the three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit overturned Judge Guirola’s ruling in October 2024, noting that while states are empowered by Congress to conduct federal elections, federal laws preempt state regulation of elections.

Attorneys for the state representing Secretary Watson and the local election officials are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the lower court ruling and allow the state law to remain in place.