Judge rejects GOP challenge of Mississippi timeline for counting absentee ballots

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Republican National Committee that sought to block Mississippi from counting absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days after after it.

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. handed down his ruling Sunday, becoming the second federal judge in recent weeks to dismiss such a lawsuit.

“Mississippi’s statutory procedure for counting lawfully cast absentee ballots, postmarked on or before election day, and received no more than five business days after election day is consistent with federal law and does not conflict with the Elections Clause, the Electors’ Clause, or the election-day statutes,” Guirola wrote.

Another federal judge recently dismissed a similar lawsuit in Nevada, rejecting Republicans’ assertions that counting absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received days later was unconstitutional and violated federal law.

The Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, a member of the state Republican Executive Committee and an election commissioner filed the Mississippi lawsuit in January against Republican Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson and six local election officials. The Libertarian Party of Mississippi later filed a similar lawsuit, and the judge consolidated it with the one filed by the Republican groups.

The suits argued that Mississippi improperly extends the federal election beyond the election date set by Congress and that, as a result, “timely, valid ballots are diluted by untimely, invalid ballots.”

In dismissing the suits, Guirola wrote that “no ‘final selection’ is made after the federal election day under Mississippi’s law. All that occurs after election day is the delivery and counting of ballots cast on or before election day.”

Mississippi is one of several states that allow mailed ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The list includes swing states such as Nevada and states such as Colorado, Oregon and Utah that rely heavily on mail voting.

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Emily Wagster Pettus, The Associated Press