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© The Hill
States are already preparing for the possibility that the Supreme Court could eliminate grace periods for mail-in ballots received after Election Day, which could pose unexpected consequences for this year's midterm elections and beyond.

The high court on Monday weighed the lawfulness of a Mississippi statute that allows ballots postmarked by Election Day but received five business days afterward to still be counted. More than a dozen states have similar laws.

As the justices questioned each side, they seemed likely to limit mail-in ballots, though a decision is not expected until summer. It has left election officials and legal experts on edge.

"This isn't just a singular action that's not going to have a ripple effect," said Rebekah Caruthers, president and CEO of the nonpartisan voting rights organization Fair Elections Center.

States ready for adverse ruling

Mississippi's statute was enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic but was later made permanent. A lower court ruled that federal law preempts it, prompting the state's appeal to the Supreme Court.

Some 14 states, plus the District of Columbia, have grace periods for regular ballots like Mississippi's, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. On top of that, 29 states accept military and overseas ballots received after Election Day, which also stand to be affected.

It's forcing state election officials to consider how to address a decision requiring all ballots to be received by Election Day.

Tess Seger, a top aide to Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, told The Hill that in his state, voters who live 50 miles or more from Portland or cannot drive would be most impacted by such a ruling.

In 2022, nearly 32,000 ballots received after Election Day within Oregon's seven-day grace period were counted because they were validly postmarked, she said. The number was closer to 13,000 in 2024, but the secretary of state's office fully anticipates those numbers will grow in 2026 because of increased delays in postmarking and mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.

Oregon already has updated its guidance for voters to put their ballots in the mail at least seven days before Election Day, and Read's office is increasing its communications staff to help push out new messaging. But because Oregon's grace period was put into effect in 2022, ending it would not be a "major change" for election officials, Seger said.

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