Supreme Court to review legality of counting mail ballots arriving after Election Day

The Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the legality of counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, which could have sweeping implications for laws in more than a dozen states.

The high court on Monday granted the petition to hear Watson v. Republican National Committee , reviewing a Mississippi state law that allows mail ballots received up to five days after Election Day, but which were postmarked by Election Day, to be counted. The RNC sued the state over the law, arguing that it violates a federal statute that designates Election Day as the single day on which elections are held, and therefore must be the day when ballot collection is completed. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with the RNC, Louisiana appealed to the high court,