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By Sean O'Driscoll
Senior Crime and Courts Reporter
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A federal judge has rejected a Republican challenge to a Mississippi law that allows the counting of mail-in ballots after an election.
The law allows the votes to be counted up to five days after an election so long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
In Monday's ruling, Judge Louis Guirola wrote that the challenge stands or falls "on whether the Mississippi absentee ballots statute conflicts with federal law, in which case Plaintiffs say their rights would be violated."
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"Because the Court finds no such conflict, it finds no such violations. Summary judgment is properly granted to Defendants," he wrote.
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The defendants comprised the Mississippi Secretary of State, Michael Watson; Justin Wetzel, the clerk and registrar of the Circuit Court of Harrison County, Mississippi; and the members of the Harrison County Election Commission.
The Libertarian Party joined the Republican National Committee as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
"Mississippi's statutory procedure for counting lawfully cast absentee ballots, postmarked on or before election day, and received no more than five business days after election day is consistent with federal law," Guirola wrote.
Republicans argued that allowing mail-in votes diverted its funds and energy away from the in-person voting.
The RNC also claimed that postal voting "harms" Republican voters, who are less likely to vote by mail.
Newsweek sought email comment from the RNC on Monday.
Guirola wrote that, while Republicans and Libertarians had the legal standing to take the case, he was satisfied that the Mississippi statute was not violating federal law.
"The Court finds that the RNC, the Mississippi Republican Party, and the Libertarian Party each have standing to proceed with these lawsuits."
"They have sufficiently alleged negative consequences they suffer because of Mississippi's statute allowing postelection receipt of ballots mailed by election day. However, the Court also finds that Defendants are entitled to summary judgment as to all of Plaintiffs' claims."
"Mississippi's statutory procedure for counting lawfully cast absentee ballots, postmarked on or before election day, and received no more than five business days after election day is consistent with federal law and does not conflict with the Elections Clause, the Electors' Clause, or the election-day statutes," he wrote.
About 20 states allow the counting of postal votes after election day.
The issue is particularly important on election day and the RNC saw the Mississippi lawsuit as a test for challenges ahead of other states.
It is particularly important as the 2024 presidential election is expected to be a tight race.
The latest poll shows that Vice President Kamala Harris has seen a significant boost in her approval ratings while Donald Trump's has fallen.
An ABC News/Ipsos survey of 1,200 adults released on Sunday showed that Harris' favorability rating stands at 43 percent, 8 points up from the 35 percent favorability rating she recorded in a previous poll conducted before President Joe Biden ended his 2024 campaign.
Trump's favorability rating has fallen 4 points between the two surveys from 40 percent to 36.
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