Decision follows close California primary race, results delayed due to vote-by-mail ballot counts
On Monday June 29, the Supreme Court of the United States released a decision on the case of Watson v. Republican National Committee. The case questioned the constitutionality of vote-by-mail ballots being allowed in Mississippi, so long as they are postmarked by Election Day and received within five business days following the election.
In a 5-4 decision, the justices rejected the argument that per federal law, ballots must be received by Election Day. This decision protects voters’ rights and flexibility to cast their ballots by mail.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, wrote for the majority.
“In sum, the election-day statutes require the electorate’s choice to be made on election day,” Barrett wrote. “That occurs so long as election day is the deadline for individuals to vote — as it is in Mississippi. But the election-day statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt, so they do not prevent Mississippi from counting ballots postmarked before election day yet received afterward.”
Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown went to X to post celebrations.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision in Watson is a major win for voters and a firm rebuke of Donald Trump’s strategy to take control of states’ voting systems,” Brown posted. “State laws govern when ballots must be received and counted. It’s not the President’s business.”
Angélica Salceda, director of the ACLU of Northern California’s Democracy, Speech, & Technology Project wrote a press release following the announcement.
“[The decision] is a win for millions of eligible voters who might otherwise have been disenfranchised,” Salceda said.
The decision comes a few weeks after California held its state primaries on the first Tuesday of June. The ballots included various different votes across state and county elections. The election also featured two contentious races: the top two candidates for state governor and the Los Angeles mayor.
The state governor’s race was tight, with no clear standout. Early top candidates included Xavier Becerra, Steve Hilton, Tom Steyer, Chad Bianco, Katie Porter and Matt Mahan. Ultimately Becerra and Hilton advanced to the general election in November with Steyer falling 1.8 percentage points behind Steyer.
However, both Becerra and Hilton’s announcement of advancement were not made until days after Election Day, due to mail-in ballots being received and counted, up to seven days after Election Day. Becerra’s advancement was called on June 5, and Hilton’s on June 9.
The Los Angeles mayoral primary was also a tight race. The race included the incumbent Karen Bass advancing to a runoff election, and candidates Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt fighting for second place. Ultimately Raman was announced to advance on June 8.
The delay in results led to lots of online debate. With gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom and democratic lawmakers for the slow vote count.
“We have this outrageous dilatory attitude where they don’t have the respect for the people of California to get on with it and get this done in a timely manner,” Hilton said outside the San Mateo County elections office on June 5.
President Donald Trump also commented on the issue as well, posting to Truth Social on June 3.
“[The Democrats] are trying to steal the governor of California primary, and the mayor of Los Angeles primary, away from two great Republican candidates,” Trump posted. “Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of mail in ballots.”
Following the decision, President Trump described it as a “tremendous loss” in another Truth Social post, but used it to further encourage the passing of the Save America Act which would include limits on absentee ballots.
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