Supreme Court will hear case on post-Election Day ballot counting

The Supreme Court said it would hear arguments Monday in a case challenging a Mississippi state law allowing the state to count ballots in federal elections that arrive after Election Day.

Monday’s order came after Mississippi asked the justices to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit which found that federal law setting Election Day trumped the state statute, and would not allow the counting of late-arriving ballots in federal elections.

In the petition, the state argued that states should be allowed latitude to make sure their citizens’ votes count in federal elections, and the decision risked post-Election Day legal chaos in next year’s midterms.

“The stakes are high: ballots cast by—but received after—election day can swing close races and change the