Utah Sen. Mike Lee has filed a brief with the Supreme Court as it prepares to weigh in on whether states can count mail-in ballots after Election Day even if the votes were cast before the deadline.
Lee filed what is known as an amicus brief, an outside legal filing from someone not directly involved with the lawsuit but who wants to offer arguments in support of one party, to back the Republican National Committee’s court case to restrict how long mail-in ballots can be counted after Election Day.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case in March with a decision expected sometime this summer — potentially having major implications for the 2026 midterm elections.
“Congress, exercising its constitutional authority to set the times, places, and manner of federal elections, designated one federal Election Day,” Lee wrote in a statement. “States counting ballots received after Election Day clearly violate the certainty, finality, and trust Congress intended to establish by having nationwide elections take place on one set date. I look forward to the Supreme Court recognizing that States are not permitted to conduct interminable rolling elections with late-arriving ballot surprises that invite fraud and undermine trust in American elections.”
Supreme Court considers Watson v. Republican National Committee
The brief comes as the Supreme Court is set to weigh in on Michael Watson v. Republican National Committee to decide whether individual states can allow some absentee or mail-in ballots to be counted after Election Day if they were cast or postmarked before the deadline. The case was elevated to the Supreme Court after Watson, Mississippi’s secretary of state, appealed to the highest court.
The case stems from a challenge in Mississippi where election officials are currently permitted to count ballots that are received up to five days after Election Day so long as they were sent in before then.
The RNC initially sued the state in early 2024, arguing federal law requires states to only count ballots that are received by Election Day. However, state officials say federal law only requires ballots to be cast by that date but do not need to be received by that deadline.
A federal district court upheld Mississippi officials’ argument, resulting in a number of appeals that have now led to the Supreme Court taking up the case.
In his briefing, Lee argues Congress holds the authority to establish a single Election Day that requires all states to abide by the deadline. That date is set to ensure electoral integrity and uniformity in elections, the filing states.
“The question presented here is whether states may ignore (the deadline) — counting ballots that arrive days or weeks late, so long as someone claims they were mailed earlier,” the briefing states. “The answer is ‘No.’ States cannot circumvent the federal deadline.”
By allowing states to stray from that federal authority, Lee argues, it undermines “the federal electoral process through the manipulation of timing or procedure.”
If the Supreme Court upholds the RNC’s challenge, it may require other states with similar grace periods to reject ballots that are not received by the time polls close on election night. At least 14 states and Washington, D.C., currently have laws in place that count ballots received after Election Day so long as they are postmarked before then.
That could mean hundreds of thousands of ballots nationwide could be thrown out if they aren’t sent in on time, based on 2024 election data on votes counted during grace periods but sent in before the deadline.
Utah recently changed its own state laws after the 2024 election, now requiring ballots to be received by election officials by 8 p.m. on Election Day when the polls close. That law was signed in 2025.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to begin oral arguments on March 23, with a decision expected sometime by June before the court adjourns.