Supreme Court upholds mail-in ballot grace periods in surprise 5-4 ruling

The Wire: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that states can count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, as long as they're postmarked on time.

Why it counts: The decision locks in absentee grace periods across roughly 15 states and Washington, D.C., and hands election officials certainty on receipt deadlines they'd been waiting on all year.

The margin: The court split 5-4 in Watson v. Republican National Committee, upholding a Mississippi law that counts ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within five business days.

• Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, wrote the majority opinion.

• Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's three Democratic appointees joined her.

• Justices Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh dissented.

  
  

The fine print: Barrett drew a line between casting and receiving. Federal election-day statutes require voting to conclude on Election Day but set no deadline for when ballots must be received, leaving that call to the states.

On the record: "The electorate's choice is made when voting is complete, not when ballots are received," Barrett wrote.

The counter: The RNC and Mississippi Republicans argued that 19th-century laws establishing a single national Election Day require ballots to be in hand by that date, not merely dropped in the mail.

The backdrop: The ruling crosses the court's usual ideological lines and deals a blow to GOP efforts to tighten mail voting before November.

Looking ahead: With deadlines settled, officials in affected states dodge a scramble to rewrite the rules before ballots go out this fall.