JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A conservative federal court on Friday said Mississippi cannot count mail-in ballots that arrive shortly after Election Day , although the decision was not expected to affect the Nov. 5 election.
While the appellate judges firmly asserted that counting late ballots violates federal law, even if those ballots are postmarked by Election Day, the judges stopped short of an order immediately blocking Mississippi from continuing the practice. Their ruling noted federal court precedents have discouraged court actions that change established procedures shortly before an election. The ultimate outcome may be negligible in most elections in heavily Republican Mississippi, however the case could also affect voting in swing states.
The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a July decision by U.
S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., who had dismissed challenges to Mississippi’s election law by the Republican National Committee, the Libertarian Party of Mississippi and others.
The appeals court order sent the case back to Guirola for further action, but the issue may wind up at the Supreme Court. The appeals court said its ruling Friday would not be returned to a lower court until seven days after the deadline for appealing their decision has passed — which is usually at least 14 days. That would put the effect of the ruling well past Nov.
5. UCLA law professor Richard Hasen wrote on his election law blog that the appeals court rulin.
