Appeals Court Says Mississippi Law Allowing Ballots After Election Day Is Illegal

ELECTION THEFT

  Sam Dorman

In doing so, it ruled against a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrived no more than five days after the election and if they were postmarked on or before the date of the election.

The opinion, which came less than two weeks before the 2024 elections, redirected the case back to the lower court while refraining from issuing an injunction that would halt Mississippi's law.

The policy was adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the state kept it after the pandemic ended.

"Because Mississippi's statute allows ballot receipt up to five days after the federal election day, it is preempted by federal law," Judge Andrew Oldham, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote in his opinion for the court.

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley called the decision on the social media platform X a "seismic win for fair, accurate, secure, and transparent elections."

Justifying the decision to throw the decision back to the lower court, rather than block Mississippi's law, Oldham referenced a Supreme Court precedent that cautions against last-minute changes to election procedures.

"Today's decision says nothing about remedies," he said. "We decline to grant plaintiffs' initial request for a permanent injunction. ... Instead, we remand to the district court for further proceedings to fashion appropriate relief, giving due consideration to 'the value of preserving the status quo in a voting case on the eve of an election.'"

He was quoting another fifth circuit case but also referenced the Supreme Court's 2006 decision in Purcell v. Gonzalez.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson had told the Fifth Circuit that an election was voters' "conclusive choice of an officeholder," which took place on election day.