A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday leaves Washington's mail-in voting deadline intact, allowing ballots to continue to be counted even if they arrive after Election Day.
In a 5-4 decision, the court majority, led by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, rejected a Republican National Committee effort that would have required states to stop counting thousands of later-arriving ballots.
That would have required scrambling by elections administrators and voters in Washington before the midterm elections in November. Elections officials were already preparing to advise people to vote early this fall.
The decision Monday, in which the court majority said states have a constitutional and legal right to set their own elections procedures, appears to spare Washington's system from those abrupt changes.
"This is a relief not only for us but for our voters, and will help make sure that thousands of voters are able to have their ballot counted in this November’s midterms and future elections," King County Elections Director Julie Wise wrote in a message to staff on Monday morning.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs called the decision “a victory for all Washington voters."
"The ruling upholds our longstanding ballot return rules, which support accessible and fair elections. Washington’s ballot return deadline means that the thousands of voters whose ballots are postmarked on time but received after Election Day still have their voices heard," he said in a statement.
By law, ballots postmarked on or before Election Day in Washington can be received and counted up to 20 days after the election.
Monday's ruling came in a case from Mississippi, which allows votes in that state to be counted up to five days after Election Day if they were postmarked on time.
In the decision, Barrett and the court majority wrote that the Constitution does not require ballots to be received by Election Day, nor has Congress imposed such a restriction. "The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose," Barrett wrote.
Justice Samuel Alito, in a dissent joined by three other conservative justices, argued later ballots should not be counted because it violates the concept of an Election Day. "The acceptance of these late-arriving ballots effectively postpones the date on which the electorate’s choice is made," he wrote.
The ruling was hailed by Democratic elected officials in Washington, who have defended the state's vote-by-mail system as convenient and secure amid attacks from President Donald Trump and Republicans.
"If you work a shift job, have young kids, or live out in the woods, you can’t just knock off for the day to go stand in line at a polling place. For decades, Washington’s secure vote by mail system has made it easy for these folks to participate in democracy and make their voice heard," said U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal, in a post on X.
U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, said in an X post she's "glad this attempt to suppress voters was rejected," but cautioned that recent changes at the U.S. Postal Service mean it's better for voters to get their ballots in earlier this year, whether through the mail or in a ballot drop box.
The Washington State Republican Party, which backed the GOP's Mississippi lawsuit and has echoed Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread vote fraud, reposted a statement from RNC Chairman Joe Gruters saying Democrats "are inviting chaos at the ballot box by allowing elections to drag on for days or weeks after voters cast their ballots."
The state GOP, like Trump, is urging Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would impose strict voter ID requirements, likely upending Washington's current vote-by-mail system.
The legislation would require people to present documentation showing they are U.S. citizens to register to vote in federal elections, and show ID again to cast their ballots, which elections officials say would force voters to travel in-person to voting centers.
Washington's vote by mail system has operated for decades, expanding as it grew more popular among voters.
In 2005, voting by mail was authorized as a permanent option for all counties that chose to adopt it. By 2011, with 38 of 39 counties making the switch to mail balloting, the Legislature passed a law requiring it.
Despite Monday's decision, some uncertainty remains in how quickly the Postal Service may deliver ballots, especially in Democratic-leaning states where the Trump administration has pushed to have ballot deliveries frozen unless the states comply with Justice Department demands for voter-roll information.
Given that, Hobbs said voters should plan ahead to ensure their votes are delivered on time in November.
"Using a secure and accessible ballot drop box before 8 p.m. on Election Day guarantees ballots are received on time. If voters need to return their ballot by mail, they should return it more than a week before Election Day, he said in a statement.
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