Federal Judge Rules In RNC Lawsuit Over Late Ballot Counting In Mississippi
A federal judge has ruled on a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee against Mississippi over a law permitting the late counting of ballots.
The law allows absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received up to five days later. “U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. ruled that Mississippi’s procedure aligns with federal law and does not conflict with the elections clause, the electors clause, or election-day statutes,” the Washington Examiner reported.
This ruling follows a similar recent decision in Nevada, where another federal judge dismissed claims that counting such absentee ballots was unconstitutional.
The lawsuit, filed in January by the RNC, the state Republican Party, and the Libertarian Party, argued that the state’s policy improperly extended the federal election date and diluted timely ballots. However, Guirola determined that no “final selection” occurs after Election Day under the law, as it only involves the delivery and counting of ballots cast by Election Day.
“Mississippi’s statutory procedure for counting lawfully cast absentee ballots, postmarked on or before election day, and received no more than five business days after election day is consistent with federal law,” Guirola wrote.
Mississippi is one of 20 states that allow mailed ballots to be counted if postmarked by Election Day. This practice is also used in swing states like Nevada and in states such as Colorado, Oregon, and Utah, which rely heavily on mail-in voting.
The RNC has been working to enhance ballot integrity ahead of the 2024 election after former President Donald Trump raised concerns following his 2020 loss to Joe Biden. Key swing states altered their voting procedures before the last election, primarily to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including widespread mail-in voting and ballot drop boxes. Trump’s legal team argued that these changes, implemented by secretaries of state and governors, were illegal as the Constitution requires such alterations to be passed by state legislatures.
Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink founder and CEO Elon Musk recently advocated for major voting reform ahead of the 2024 election on his X platform.
“We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high,” Musk wrote in a tweet that received significant agreement.
Musk was responding to a post from independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who highlighted recent issues with electronic voting machines in Puerto Rico.
“Puerto Rico’s primary elections just experienced hundreds of voting irregularities related to electronic voting machines, according to the Associated Press. Luckily, there was a paper trail so the problem was identified and vote tallies corrected,” said his post, which included a link to the AP story.
“What happens in jurisdictions where there is no paper trail? US citizens need to know that every one of their votes was counted, and that their elections cannot be hacked. We need to return to paper ballots to avoid electronic interference with elections. My administration will require paper ballots and we will guarantee honest and fair elections,” RFK Jr. added.
Trump has also called for the universal implementation of paper-only ballots, as well as limiting voting in federal elections to a single day with a few early voting exceptions for deployed U.S. military personnel and the infirm.
Following his 2020 loss, Trump promoted a theory that electronic voting machines may have been hacked and votes for him changed to votes for Biden, though it could not be proven. Notably, before the 2020 election, many Democrats similarly warned about the potential for electronic voting machines to be hacked or otherwise manipulated.