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After 'Bonkers' 5th Circuit Ruling, Supreme Court to Hear Mail-In Ballot Case
While experts hope the justices will reverse an "objectively insane" appellate decision, a ruling in favor of the Republican National Committee could reduce the rights of Americans who vote by mail.
Nov 10, 2025
As President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned leaders who tried to overturn his 2020 loss, the US Supreme Court took up the national Republican Party's argument that counting mailed ballots shortly after Election Day violates federal law.
Voting by mail has long been a target of the GOP president, who has falsely claimed that the practice fuels voter fraud. This case concerns a Mississippi law that allows mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted as long as they arrive within five business days, which three Trump appointees on the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit struck down last year.
That lawsuit was brought by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Mississippi Libertarian Party. Another Republican, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch‚ is asking the nation's top court to reject the 5th Circuit's decision, arguing that it "defies statutory text, conflicts with this court's precedent, and—if left to stand—will have destabilizing nationwide ramifications."
The Supreme Court—which has a conservative supermajority that includes three Trump appointees—agreed to hear Watson v. RNC and decide "whether the federal Election Day statutes preempt a state law that allows ballots that are cast by federal Election Day to be received by election officials after that day."
The Supreme Court will review an objectively insane 5th Circuit decision that prohibited states from counting ballots that were mailed before Election Day but arrive shortly after. (More than half the states have such laws.) www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
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— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) November 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
The Associated Press pointed out Monday that "Mississippi is among 18 states and the District of Columbia that accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long as the ballots are postmarked on or before that date," and "an additional 14 states allow the counting of late-arriving ballots from some eligible voters, including overseas US service members and their families."
Legal experts have condemned the appellate decision as "awful" and "bonkers." The justices are expected to hear arguments early next year and issue a ruling by the end of June, months before the crucial midterm elections.
National Vote At Home Institute executive director Barbara Smith Warner welcomed their decision to take the case and potentially reverse the 5th Circuit's "upside-down" opinion, telling Democracy Docket: "The idea that a ballot that is postmarked on or by Election Day and received afterwards... is like voting after Election Day? That is ridiculous."
Unfortunately I am here to tell you: it's time to worry about what the Supreme Court is going to do to mail ballots postmarked by election day that arrive after election day, in states across the country. This could be enormous.www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
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— jen rice (@jenrice.bsky.social) November 10, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Alexia Kemerling, director of accessible democracy at the American Association of People with Disabilities, was also hopeful.
"We really hope that the Supreme Court takes the responsibility seriously to make sure that every voter can use their power," she said. "'The millions of voters with disabilities who cannot vote in person or voters who are overseas who cannot vote in person—this is their only way to participate in the system. They should not be disenfranchised for the ways that our system moves slowly."
The New York Times noted that Watson v. RNC "is a potential blockbuster and adds to the court's other elections and voting cases for the term, which include a case about who can sue to challenge Illinois' mail-in ballot rules and a challenge to the Louisiana congressional district map that could gut a remaining pillar of the Voting Rights Act."
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Georgia Supreme Court Rejects GOP Push for Hand Count of Votes
One advocate praised the court for refusing to allow the State Election Board "to inject chaos and confusion into our democratic system."
Oct 22, 2024
Voting rights advocates on Tuesday cheered the Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous decision to reject Republican efforts to require a hand count of votes and another rule that could delay certification of the results for the November 5 election.
After Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney last week struck down the State Election Board's (SEB) hand-count policy and ruled that local election officials must certify results regardless of their beliefs that "voter fraud" has taken place, the Republican National Committee and Georgia GOP sought an expedited appeal before Election Day.
"The high court's one-page order leaves in place a Fulton County judge's ruling last week that seven new election rules are 'illegal, unconstitutional, and void,'" The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday. "The order noted the appeal can proceed on a normal schedule."
Although Republican attacks on voting rights in the state persist, advocates still celebrated what Democracy Docket called "a win for voters."
Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, said that "with this ruling, the court keeps the status quo in place, refusing to allow the SEB to inject chaos and confusion into our democratic system."
"We are excited about the record early voting numbers in Georgia and glad that now all can focus on participating in this important election without disruption," Young added.
Georgia is just one of several states where early voting is already underway and was a key focus of former Republican President Donald Trump's attempt to reverse his 2020 loss. Trump—who faces a criminal case in Fulton County over his "Big Lie" efforts during the last cycle—is now the Republican nominee running against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
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The Republican National Convention Is a Who’s Who of Election Deniers
The Big Lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” remains an inextricable centerpiece of Trumpism, while any meaningful pushback has been eliminated within the party.
Jul 19, 2024
With the nomination of Ohio Sen. JD Vance for vice president at the Republican National Convention on Monday, the GOP has doubled down on its insistence on election denialism as central to its DNA. The Big Lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” remains an inextricable centerpiece of Trumpism, while any meaningful pushback has been eliminated within the party.
Once a “never-Trumper,” Vance reversed course on entering the 2020 Senate race in Ohio, becoming an outspoken supporter of the then-president and a spokesperson for the Big Lie. Both before and after the 2020 presidential election, he claimed that people voted illegally “on a large-scale basis” and spread other conspiracy theories about the election. When asked in an ABC interview earlier this year what he would have done if he had been vice president on January 6, 2021, Vance admitted that he would not have certified the election results.
In fact, this election cycle only those who embrace election denialism and are therefore deemed sufficiently loyal to former U.S. President Donald Trump have remained within the Republican Party fold. In March of this year, longtime chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) Ronna McDaniel was forced to resign from her position under pressure amid rising tension between Trump and the RNC. Under her leadership, the RNC had dutifully promoted Trump’s false claims of voter and electoral fraud, as well as downplayed the severity of the insurrection on January 6.
The complete takeover of the GOP by election deniers is on full display at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week.
McDaniel’s rapid fall from grace within the RNC was shocking in many ways given her unflinching loyalty to Trump and willingness to utilize the RNC to further his interests. Georgia’s National Committeeman Jason Thompson suggested in April that her ouster as chair had been sealed by her refusal to allow the RNC to cover the legal costs of indicted fake electors. According to him, McDaniel said it was, “Not our problem.” Thompson points to her refusal as the driving force behind “the downfall of Ronna.”
McDaniel was replaced by Trump-approved loyalists, with North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley and Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, elected as RNC chair and co-chair, respectively. Whatley previously promoted 2020 election lies and supported legal efforts to overturn the results, and Lara Trump has accused the Democrats of “massive fraud” in 2020.
Staffers at the RNC were laid off en masse following the shakeup, with more than 60 officials booted from their positions. Reporting by The Washington Post revealed that under the new leadership, prospective RNC employees were asked during their job interviews if they believed the 2020 election was stolen, essentially making election denialism the new litmus test for employment at the RNC.
Since then, the RNC has announced an “election integrity” initiative to mobilize thousands of polling place monitors, poll workers, and attorneys in swing states during the November election. “We can never go back and repeat 2020, but we can learn the lessons from 2020,” said Lara Trump at the kickoff event for the initiative. The RNC has also filed lawsuits in battleground states to bar mail-in ballots from being counted after Election Day.
The complete takeover of the GOP by election deniers is on full display at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week. On Monday, the event opened with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Debbie Kraulidis, a J6 protester. Convention speakers feature prominent Republicans who have spread Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, including Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, among many others.
At least 16 delegates invited to this year’s convention signed fraudulent Electoral College documents in their states in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, serving as “fake electors” in a coordinated attempt to subvert the outcome of the election in seven battleground states. In addition, at least four convention delegates had been slated to act as fake electors before others were chosen in their place. The fake electors from Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada are currently facing felony charges, except for one whose charges were dropped in exchange for cooperation. As of last August, 3 of 16 fake electors in Georgia have been indicted in connection with the state’s massive racketeering case against Trump and 18 co-defendants.
Other prominent election deniers are also serving as delegates at this week’s convention, including Georgia National Committeewoman Amy Kremer, who was one of the most active fundraisers in the Stop the Steal movement and whose organization secured the permit for the Save America rally in Washington on January 6, and Michigan delegate Matthew DePerno, who currently faces criminal charges for an alleged effort to tamper with voting machines following the 2020 election.
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