Protect Democracy and the Campaign Legal Center file Supreme Court brief arguing that Mississippi can set its own ballot receipt deadlines

On Jan. 9, the Campaign Legal Center and Protect Democracy filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in the case Watson v. Republican National Committee, which asks whether it is acceptable under federal law for Mississippi to count ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and received within five days. The amicus brief argues that Mississippi is within its rights to set its own ballot receipt deadlines.

In addition to Mississippi, fourteen states (as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia) have enacted laws that permit mail ballots to be received after Election Day. The brief explains why the federal election statutes don’t interfere with all of these states’ laws, or any state’s ability to set its own ballot receipt deadlines.

“The Constitution grants states both the authority and duty to administer elections, as the Founders believed states are best positioned to exercise this critical democratic role. Mississippi’s law is consistent with the Constitution, and it allows voters whose ballots are postmarked by Election Day to participate in our democracy,” said Jane Bentrott, counsel at Protect Democracy. “If the Supreme Court sides with the Republican National Committee, it would be a radical break with American democratic norms and would disrupt not only Mississippi’s election laws and processes, but also those of more than a dozen other states.”