Headline Roundup • June 29th, 2026
SCOTUS Allows Postmarked Mail-In Ballots
Supreme Court,Voting Rights And Voter Fraud,Mail-In Voting,Elections,Midterm Elections,Mississippi,Election Integrity
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that mail-in ballots may be received within five days of Election Day if they're postmarked.
The Details: The ruling, "Watson v. Republican National Committee," upholds a Mississippi COVID-era law that allows the delayed ballot collection. The majority opinion included liberal Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, along with conservative Justices Amy Coney Barrett and John G. Roberts Jr. Conservative Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas dissented.
RELATED: AllStances™: Should the U.S. Reform Its Voting Methods? | AllSides
Key Quotes: Barrett, who wrote for the majority, asserted, "The election-day statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt, so they do not prevent Mississippi from counting ballots postmarked before election day yet received afterward." Alito, for the dissent, said, "Today, not all voting occurs in person on election day… respondents do not dispute the lawfulness of these modern practices. Nor do I. But acceptance of these practices cannot change the fact that under federal law, the electorate's collective choice must still be authoritatively expressed on election day."
For Context: During President Donald Trump's campaign, he criticized mail-in voting as a window for widespread fraud. He announced plans to eliminate mail-in voting and voting machines ahead of the midterms last August, and he imposed restrictions and transparency requirements on mail-in voting in April to reduce mail-in eligibility to absentee voters.
RELATED: Track Trump's Campaign Promises on Voter Eligibility and Fraud | AllSides
How The Media Covered It: Outlets on the right more often exhibited bias against the decision. The Federalist (Right bias), for example, declared it "a blow to the integrity of US elections." Outlets on the left emphasized the conservative justices' split on the ruling, with Daily Beast (Left) propounding, "MAGA world has erupted in fury."
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
Featured Coverage of this Story
In a blow to the integrity of U.S. elections, the Supreme Court upheld state laws permitting election officials to accept postmarked ballots after Election Day on Monday. The ruling was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the court's liberal justices in the majority.
The dispute in Watson v. RNC dates back to 2024, when the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Mississippi GOP filed a lawsuit against a Mississippi election law governing late-arriving ballots. The plaintiffs alleged that the law authorizing mail-in ballots that...
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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Just over four months before the 2026 midterm elections, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by, and received within five days of, Election Day. By a vote of 5-4, the justices in Watson v. Republican National Committee rejected an argument, made by the political parties and others challenging the law, that federal law requires mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day.
Writing for the majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett concluded that "the election-day...
MAGA world has erupted in fury at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett after the Trump appointee helped thwart the president's bid to change election rules.
Barrett joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court's three liberal justices in a 5-4 ruling allowing states to count mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive afterward...
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