The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a Mississippi law that allows a five-day grace period for mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive up to five days later. However, that ruling won’t have any effect on Ohio’s new law that eliminated a grace period for mail-in ballots.
Ohio Secretary of State spokesperson Ben Kindel said Ohio is one of 35 states in the country that doesn't have a grace period for mail-in ballots. He said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling gives states the right to govern their own elections when it comes to grace periods for mail-in ballots. Kindel said Ohio’s law requiring mail-in ballots to arrive by Election Day in order to be counted will stand.
League of Women Voters of Ohio Executive Director Jen Miller said the high court’s ruling means Ohio voters have stricter voting laws than necessary. “Once again, Ohio voters are facing more barriers to the ballot box than those in surrounding states,” Miller said. “It’s getting messaged as a victory across the country, but it’s only a victory for some voters. Unfortunately, Ohio voters cannot benefit from the ruling from the Supreme Court.”
When Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law in 2025, that eliminated the four-day grace period for mail-in ballots. DeWine said his hand was forced because he thought the high court would rule against Mississippi in the mail-in ballot case.
“No one knows how the Supreme Court will rule," DeWine said. “However, if the court in late June upholds the 5th Circuit case and Ohio's grace period for counting late ballots is still in effect, the election situation in Ohio would be chaotic.”
Miller said the pending federal case was also in the back of some lawmakers' minds.
“Ohio lawmakers justified a shortened acceptance window for mail-in ballots because they were sure that SCOTUS would side with them, and it didn’t,” Miller said.
Miller said Ohio voters should call on lawmakers to restore the former four-day grace period for mail-in ballots.
Kindel said since the high court gives Congress the right to make a federal law to clarify this policy, lawmakers in Washington, D.C. should do that.
More than 1,500 late ballots from the May 2026 primary were tossed out across Ohio because they were postmarked after Election Day.
