A panel of three former President Donald Trump-appointed U.S. Court of Appeals judges heard oral arguments on Tuesday over a lower court ruling on a Mississippi election law that allows the state to continue counting mail-in absentee ballots if they’re received within five days of Election Day.
It’s a significant case for its potentially wide-ranging implications in other states — some pivotal battlegrounds — that currently allow elections officials to accept late-arriving ballots. If the Republicans who brought the case prevail in peeling back these mail-in voting provisions, the general election could become even closer across the country. This case is also considered by experts to be one of the likeliest election-related suits to reach the US Supreme Court before election day.
Around 20 states, including Mississippi, count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day but are postmarked on or before. They include Nevada, Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, California and New York. Disqualifying late-arriving ballots would be a major change in those states.