There will be just one Election Day for this fall’s midterm elections \u2014 Nov. 3. But voters in 14 states who cast their votes by mail have been given a grace period ranging from a day later to several weeks in which their ballots can be received and counted.<\/p>\n
Whether that extra time should be allowed is at the heart of a case<\/a> that will be argued Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court. If the court strikes down those grace periods, it will leave those states \u2014 and their voters \u2014 scrambling to adjust with only a few months before absentee ballots are sent out for this fall’s midterm elections.<\/p>\n The implications could extend well beyond the 14 states that give a grace period for regular ballots, depending on how the court ultimately rules. A total of 29 states allow extra time for at least some mail voters, including those who cast military and overseas ballots, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Voting Rights Lab.<\/p>\n In a filing with the court, a group of state and big-city election officials cited \u201cthe risks of confusion and disenfranchisement\u201d if mail ballot grace periods were ended suddenly in states where voters have counted on them for years.<\/p>\n Stuart Holmes, director of elections for the Washington Secretary of State\u2019s office, said 127,000 ballots were received after Election Day in 2024, so voters should expect about that many ballots to be rejected if Mississippi loses the case. Washington has the longest grace period of any state, 21 days after Election Day.<\/p>\n If the ruling is that a ballot is invalid even if it’s postmarked by Election Day, \u201cit might as well have never been received,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no way to resolve that issue,” Holmes said. “There\u2019s no second chance.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Election Day is Election Day’<\/p>\n The practice of counting ballots after Election Day has been a target of President Donald Trump since he sought to “STOP THE COUNT” after the 2020 election. He and his allies argue it delays results and leads to suspicions<\/a> about the vote tallies. It’s part of Trump’s broader attack on most mail balloting<\/a>, which he has said breeds fraud despite findings to the contrary and years of experience in numerous states.<\/p>\n The Republican National Committee and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi brought the lawsuit<\/a> against Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican, arguing that federal Election Day statutes envision a single day for casting ballots. Grace periods for receiving mail ballots \u2014 also in place in the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories \u2014 violate federal law, they argue.<\/p>\n “Election Day is Election Day for a reason,” Ohio state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, a Republican, said during debate over her state’s ban on the practice<\/a> last year. “Allowing ballots to be delivered days after the election does nothing but hurt the integrity and credibility of our elections.”<\/p>\n In briefs supporting Mississippi, voting rights groups, local election officials and organizations representing military and overseas voters defend the right of states to write their own voting rules. The Constitution gives states the authority to set the \u201ctimes, places and manner\u201d of elections.<\/p>\n Supporters of ballot grace periods told the court that upholding the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision<\/a> to strike down Mississippi’s law would threaten to create chaos and confusion in this year’s midterm elections.<\/p>\n \u201cState legislatures have recognized this issue and set election deadlines that balance the interests of canvassing speed and ballot security depending on the specific needs of each individual state,\u201d a group of local election officials and local governments told the court.<\/p>\n The groups said eliminating grace periods could affect ballot verification activities, provisional ballot processing, and the processing of military and overseas ballots that often happens after Election Day.<\/p>\n Some states already are modifying their laws<\/p>\n All 50 states require ballots to be cast or postmarked on or before Election Day. The 14 states with grace periods for regular ballots accept and count mailed ballots for periods ranging from a single day after the election in Texas to 21 days afterward in Washington state. Mississippi\u2019s disputed grace period is five days.<\/p>\n A November 2025 Brookings Institution study<\/a> found that mail voting was a practical, secure way to expand voter access, with about four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots. It was an option used by about 30% of voters<\/a> across the U.S. during the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n With the Mississippi case looming, some states have begun to act on their own.<\/p>\n Four states \u2014 Ohio, Kansas, North Dakota and Utah \u2014 eliminated grace periods last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and Voting Rights Lab. A fifth, Minnesota, shortened its ballot deadline from the close of polls on Election Day to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n