US appeals court rejects Mississippi law on late-arriving mail-in ballots
Adds further details on ruling in paragraphs 3-6
By Nate Raymond
Oct 25 (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court sided on Friday with Republicans by finding a Mississippi law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted if they are received up to five days after an election ran afoul of federal law stipulating when Election Day occurs.
The ruling by a conservative three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called into question mail-in voting practices used in about 20 states nationally, in a voting-rights fight that many predict may end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court stopped short of blocking Mississippi's law, citing the need to preserve the status quo ahead of the Nov. 5 election that will decide control of Congress and whether Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris or Republican former President Donald Trump will occupy the White House.
But the panel sided with the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party and two Republican voters who sued in January to challenge the Mississippi law, which was enacted by the state's Republican-controlled legislature in 2020. The state's Libertarian Party filed a similar lawsuit.
U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, wrote for the panel that Mississippi's law was preempted by federal law establishing a singular day for the election of Congress and the president.
"Federal law requires voters to take timely steps to vote by Election Day," he wrote. "And federal law does not permit the state of Mississippi to extend the period for voting by one day, five days, or 100 days."
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston
Editing by Chris Reese and Rod Nickel
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