Supreme Court says states may count some ballots arriving after Election Day; Arkansas law differs

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may count ballots that arrive after Election Day, rejecting a Republican-led challenge over late-arriving mail ballots in Mississippi. The report says the decision does not include Arkansas because state law requires absentee ballots to be received by 7:30 p.m. on election night.

The ruling in the Mississippi case overturns a legal challenge that sought to bar counting ballots that arrived after election night. Reporter (S1) summarized the decision: "the Supreme Court ruled that states can count ballots that arrive after election day." The transcript notes Arkansas was excluded from the decision because of its statutory deadline for absentee ballots.

The broadcast also framed political reaction: President Donald Trump and other Republicans have argued that lengthy vote counts could lead to questions about the legitimacy of results, a point the reporter relayed without attribution to a specific court filing or party spokesperson. The ruling could affect how states with later receipt deadlines or different counting rules proceed in close contests; Arkansas’ statutory deadline means the state’s procedures were not at issue in the Mississippi litigation.

There was no further detail in the transcript about the court’s majority opinion, any split among justices, or whether the decision sets a broad national standard. The report confined itself to the procedural outcome and noted the Arkansas statutory deadline as the reason the state was not covered by the case.