Supreme Court sounds skeptical of late-arriving ballots, a Trump target

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 12:33 PM EDT, March 23, 2026


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ‘s conservative majority on Monday sounded skeptical of state laws that allow the counting of late-arriving mail ballots, a persistent target of President Donald Trump. The court heard arguments in a case from Mississippi that also could affect voters in 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which have grace periods for ballots cast by mail. An additional 15 states that have more forgiving deadlines for ballots from military and overseas voters also could be impacted.

A ruling is expected by late June, early enough to govern the counting of ballots in the 2026 midterm congressional elections. The court challenge is part of Trump’s broader attack on most mail balloting, which he has said breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and years of experience in numerous states.

Several conservative justices gave voice to some of Trump’s complaints. Justice Samuel Alito wondered about the appearance of fraud in situations where “a big stash of ballots” that arrive late “radically flipped” an election.

Defending the state law, Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart pointed out that the Trump administration and its allies in the case have yet to submit a single case of fraud due to late-arriving mail ballots. The court’s liberal justices indicated they would uphold state laws with post-Election Day deadlines. “The people who should decide this issue are not the courts, but Congress, the states and Congress,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-elections-mailed-ballots-a516e60209e68642f4d74947fa06017f

[Blues Heron]

1. Once it's submitted to the government i.e. the usps it should count

[bucolic_frolic]

3. They'll have to square it with contract law

A postmark indicates the date of a contract. But now USPS may not always postmark on the same day as mailing.

[ret5hd]

2. next step: ballots not final counted by midnight...

on election day tossed.

think i’m kidding? where are ballots counted late? cities

[Gorhamtowne]

4. Post Mark Works for the Taxes Every April

It seems to me, if it is "constitutional" for a US Postal date mark to work whenever we file our taxes on April 15th, then logically, it would apply to mail in ballots. Should the Supreme Court declare postmarked date for this activity as "Unconstitutional?

[pandr32]

6. That is an excellent question.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

8. USPS now says post marks may not be applied at the time of mailing

The post marks are now not applied locally, but at the distribution centers when they process it, so there is now a delay in the process. This is a issue in the legal world as now post marks are no longer being relied on, only registered or certified mail now as those are stamped at time of acceptance.

[Gorhamtowne]

10. So :-)

Do we need to pay money to legally submit our vote with a legally verifiable certified or registered piece of mail with # applied in order to legitimately be applied to the vote count?

[Bengus81]

5. Worried about a "big stash of ballots arriving late" and maybe flipping an election Alito"?

But if they're Military ballots that would be OK, no fraud? Why is that?

[quakerboy]

12. Not worried. Planning for

Biden left a bunch of trump stooges running the USPS, and mail delivery has suffered accordingly. The idea of holding back a bunch of ballots in selected areas so that they cant be counted is a wet dream for the Epstein party.

[Grins]

21. Words he didn't say: These are LEGAL BALLOTS.

This isn’t election or voter fraud. They are arguing over the process and timing, something for which states have complete responsibility.

It is voter suppression; something the GOP has been doing for more than 60-years.

[Ford_Prefect]

7. To approach this as if it were a chronic problem, or a radical one ignores the changes in postal services wrought

By Trump, the GOP and their agents since 2010. It is one more exaggeration of a false internet meme.

The underlying laws were passed to enable more registered voters to participate in electing our government and determining policy which affects them.

The GOP takes the view that more people voting is bad for governance (by the GOP). Thus any option taken out of context can be argued as an unreasonable exception. I am 73 years old. Throughout my entire life the standard of acceptance for ANY mailed document has ALWAYS been the postmark date. Throughout the decades judges and juries alike have reinforced that aspect.

NOW when the GOP want to trim the voting pool to suit their perfidy they have decided that decades of prior law and practice have no basis.

I wonder how the generations who fought the great wars would view such interference in a fundamental constitutional right?

[2na fisherman]

9. Slow-Walk The Mail-in Ballots

If the SC decides that these ballots must be delivered to the Registrar of Voters by election day, what happens if Trump directs his Postmaster General to find ways to misdirect them or slow down delivery of them? There could be new orders to letter carriers to put them in "Special Ballot Tubs" for greater "election security." So many of them must not be counted by being past the deadline. Can this be targeted in certain precincts to Republican advantage? Or might it backfire as Republican ballots may not count as well?

[surfered]

11. The IRS accepts PO proof of mailing as timely

[Scalded Nun]

13. As stated in a comment above, this would seem to be unconstitutional as it is arbitrary

If this were to become law, then tax filings would have to be received by 15 April or be subject to fines/penalties/interest. You can't just say 'OK, you must be here by date/day or you are docked pay', but 'you over there, it's OK if you are a day late for any reason whatsoever'.

So much bullshit. Rather than just doing the right thing for people, they just want to keep fucking over the country and doing anything to stay in charge.

[regnaD kciN]

14. If they allow the federal government to ban this...

…it seems it would automatically approve Trump unilaterally imposing the SAVE Act by Executive Order.

[newdeal2]

16. There's more stuff in the law Trump wants than just this

He doesn’t want any mail in voting except very limited circumstances. Plus a whole bunch of ID bullshit.

[Mme. Defarge]

15. Since Democratic voters are overall

better educated and more intelligent than Republican voters, do we have reason to hope that Democrats will plan accordingly and will overwhelmingly turn out for our candidates? That, and given the extreme dissatisfaction with our economy and another Republican war on the part of a majority of voters, might a substantial number of R’s vote against thie own candidates?

[Zorro]

17. Disenfranchising voters is a Republican thing

They've given up on democracy.

[Grins]

23. Missing from the post: Who's the plaintiff?

Ahhhh! Yes. Of course. The usual suspects.

“Watson v. Republican National Committee, the Republican Party of Mississippi.

Conservatives - who really want a King.

[Polybius]

18. Wouldn't mailing in it three business days before Election Day make this matter moot?

Heck, mail it a week before just to be safe. Why wait till the last minute to mail it in?

[BumRushDaShow]

19. "Wouldn't mailing in it three business days before Election Day make this matter moot?"

No. Even the extra cost USPS priority mail that is estimated as 2 - 3 days is no longer guaranteed. I had a priority mail sent from outside of NYC (Long Island), which is about 100 miles north of here in Philly, suddenly go 600 miles south from NY to Charlotte, NC, and finally get here 5 days after that 2 - 3 day expected delivery date. Simply throwing it on a USPS truck and sending that down the NJ Turnpike might have taken 3 hours max with traffic. Even popping it on Amtrak, like they used to do, might have been the same. But USPS didn't want to pay overtime to keep things on time after cutting staff.

I watched one of my packages sent by USPS coming from a well known Boardwalk candy company in Atlantic City, which is about 60 miles southeast of here in Philly (a less than 2 hour drive on the AC expressway with traffic), go from AC which is in South Jersey, all the way north to Connecticut, then go southwest again to North Jersey, and finally go southwest from there to get here to Philly.

I have been lucky so far doing short distance "local" mail here in Philly, having it get to an addressee in a day or two. I mailed my last year's general election ballot on 10/13/35 and the city registered receipt 10/16/25. However for people who might live in more suburban/rural areas, all bets might be off.

But what also happens is that municipalities contract out the printing of ballots - whether for mail-in OR for "in person", and there have been numerous occasions where there was some printing error or some candidate was left off by mistake (or a court resolved their eligibility after the ballots were printed) or were kept on (who should have been off) and they have to reprint. So that ends up taking things closer and closer to election time before they are "ready", impacting mail voters, early voters, or even in person voters.

ALL of this so the media can have "instant results" and call a race a minute after the polls close.

[Bengus81]

22. No reason it shouldn't. This is LOCAL mail just going downtown,not going hundreds of

miles away. People need to check out and see if they have boxes provided by the County,we do.

Everyone could test though right now. Mail yourself a letter ,dropping it off at the PO.

[LeftInTX]

20. This sucks...Don't most states also have a "hard deadline"?

In Texas, it is six days after the election for military ballots. (Everyone else is election day)

Have a hard deadline and part of the problem solved. I know about the PO delays, but Gorsuch is complaining that ballots would be counted that arrive in January......

Don't most states have to certify elections like two weeks after the election? Hence, Gorsuch's fantasy is a "pie in the sky". Hence there is already a "hard deadline"...