Declare started making calls last week to Mississippi election commissioners, the day before the state’s primary. The hurried answers on the other side of the phone were accompanied by the buzz of printers spitting out last-minute ballots. Stating the obvious: not the best time to be calling election offices.
But the question on our mind wasn’t about the state’s March 10 election. It was about an event with a major upcoming milestone: How are you planning for a Supreme Court case about mail ballots — in which your state is the key party?
The case is Watson — as in Mississippi’s secretary of state, Michael Watson — v. Republican National Committee.
“When you called, I did what the young people do and I went straight to Google where I could read and see what this is all about!” said Yvonne Horton, an election commissioner in Hinds County, home to the capitol city of Jackson.
After more than a dozen calls to election commissioners in the state, Horton is the only such official to speak with Declare so far. It wouldn’t be surprising, though, if her response was typical. Amid primary elections, she and her fellow election commissioners have been busy. But next Monday, on March 23, the nation’s highest court is set to hear arguments in a case that could affect how they do their jobs in November.
Mississippi is one of 14 states that allows mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted, even if they arrive a certain number of days late. (In Mississippi’s case, it’s five business days.)
The state and national GOP sued Mississippi election officials in federal district court, including the secretary of state, Watson, a Republican himself, to invalidate that policy. They argued that federal law provides a single “Election Day.”
A counterargument? Casting a vote by Election Day is what matters — not counting it. And then there’s that whole “states’ rights” thing.
Horton had her own opinion on the matter: “I think we should be finding ways for people to vote, rather than finding ways for their vote not to be counted.” In 2024, a federal appeals court ruled in the RNC’s favor, after it lost at the district court level. If that decision were upheld by the Supreme Court, Horton said it would cause problems for how elections operate.
Declare has spoken with local election officials in other states, especially Illinois, about a related issue. The Postal Service has changed their standards for how often carriers will pick up rural mail, including mail ballots, and how they’ll be prioritized in circulation. It could affect the timeliness of mail ballots arriving at election offices.
“It’s going to hurt across the country, especially states like Illinois, where it has a law that says you can postmark on Election Day and it’s still counted. That’s not going to happen if people do it,” explained Tazewell County (Illinois) Clerk John Ackerman.
In either case, the burden would fall on election officials to communicate new guidelines to voters in the middle of an election year — just like in 2020, when trust and knowledge in the process started their slide to where they are today. Declare will be in Washington, D.C., to hear oral arguments in Watson v. RNC next week.