Will SCOTUS rule that mail in ballots must be received by election day to be counted?
52% of users predicted YES — the community missed this one. 31 predictions cast.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on June 29, 2026, to uphold state grace periods for mail-in ballots, rejecting the Republican National Committee's argument that federal law requires all mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day. In Watson v. Republican National Committee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's three liberal justices — Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson. Barrett concluded that federal election-day statutes set a deadline for when voters must cast their ballots, not for when physical ballots must arrive at election offices. The ruling allows states such as Mississippi to count ballots postmarked by Election Day and received up to five days later. The decision came approximately four months before the 2026 midterm elections and constitutes a significant setback for the Republican Party, which has sought to restrict ballot receipt windows in numerous states. The community narrowly expected SCOTUS to side with the GOP, with 52 percent predicting yes — the court's cross-ideological majority went the other way.