The U.S. Supreme Court has handed President Donald Trump another legal setback, ruling that states can continue counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day as long as they were mailed on time. The closely watched decision could shape how millions of votes are counted in future U.S. elections.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states may continue counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, provided they were postmarked by Election Day, delivering a significant defeat to President Donald Trump’s long-running effort to tighten mail voting rules. In a narrow 5-4 decision, the court upheld Mississippi’s election law, which allows absentee ballots to be counted if they arrive within five days after Election Day and were mailed on or before the deadline.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices. The ruling concluded that federal election law requires ballots to be cast by Election Day but does not require them to be received by that date.
The decision is expected to have implications far beyond Mississippi. More than 30 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have similar grace periods for counting mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day. The ruling effectively protects those systems from immediate legal challenges based on the same argument. Mail-in voting has remained one of the most politically divisive issues in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased absentee voting during the 2020 presidential election.
Trump has repeatedly argued that ballots should not be counted if they arrive after Election Day, even when mailed before the deadline. He and many Republican allies have claimed stricter voting rules are necessary to strengthen election integrity, while Democrats and voting rights groups argue that grace periods protect eligible voters from postal delays beyond their control. The Supreme Court’s latest ruling represents another obstacle for Trump’s broader efforts to reshape U.S. election laws.
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In recent months, several courts have also blocked parts of executive actions aimed at tightening mail voting rules and expanding federal oversight of state-run elections, reinforcing the constitutional role of states in administering elections.
Supporters of the ruling say it protects the voting rights of military personnel, overseas Americans, rural voters, and others who may experience unavoidable mail delivery delays. Election officials have also argued that modern postal systems cannot always guarantee delivery by Election Day despite voters mailing their ballots on time. Allowing a short grace period ensures those lawful votes are still counted.
The court’s conservative dissent strongly disagreed with the majority. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by three other conservative justices, argued that federal law establishes a single national Election Day and that accepting ballots afterward could undermine public confidence in election outcomes.
The ruling arrives as political parties prepare for the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, where voting procedures are expected to remain a major campaign issue. Republican lawmakers continue pushing for stricter voter identification requirements and proof-of-citizenship measures, while Democrats are advocating broader access to absentee and early voting.
Legal experts say the decision reinforces an important principle in U.S. election law: states retain significant authority to determine how elections are administered unless Congress clearly provides otherwise. For election officials, the ruling offers greater certainty ahead of future federal elections.
For Trump and his allies, however, it marks another setback in their campaign to impose tighter nationwide restrictions on mail-in voting. Although the legal battle over election rules is unlikely to end anytime soon, the Supreme Court’s decision makes one point clear.
For now, ballots mailed by Election Day can continue to count even if they arrive afterward in states that allow it, preserving voting procedures already used by millions of Americans and reaffirming the authority of states to manage their own election systems.
