Military voters were at the heart of the Supreme Court’s mail-in ballot decision

A service member fills out an absentee ballot in Afghanistan in 2008. Overseas voters often rely on mail-in ballots. AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool

In Watson v. RNC, decided June 29, 2026, liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices joined a noteworthy cross-ideological majority to uphold state grace periods for mail-in ballots. The decision, which went against President Donald Trump’s policy preferences, preserved the status quo, allowing states to accept and count mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received after.

The case revolved around the meaning of “election day,” which federal law states is the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The statute does not say anything about casting or counting ballots on or by Election Day.