The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a challenge to a Mississippi law, adopted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, that allows mail-in ballots to be counted if they are cast on time and received within five days of Election Day.
[Note: President Trump, who has sought, without evidence, to blame “fraudulent” mail-in ballots for his loss in the 2020 presidential election, announced in August he would try to eliminate mail-in ballots, though he does not have the power to unilaterally change voting laws as voting protocol is largely controlled by the states. Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist Papers #59 (1788), addressed states’ power over elections.]
On Veterans Day, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) wrote on social media: “It is ridiculous that mail ballots do not have to arrive by Election Day in states like California and Pennsylvania. California keeps counting for weeks after the election!”
(Note: About 30 states accept some ballots that are mailed by Election Day but received later. The grace period differs by state.)
You’re being ridiculous. As a Navy reservist you should know better than to malign Election Day filed mail ballots. Overseas military can vote on Election Day like every other citizen. But, it may take weeks for those ballots to arrive in the states from distant bases. Your idea… https://t.co/Tdx4m89GmE
— Alexander S. Vindman
(@AVindman) November 11, 2025
Retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman, the former Director of European Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council and key witness in the Trump–Ukraine scandal that resulted in Trump’s first impeachment, replied to DeSantis.
Vindman wrote: “You’re being ridiculous. As a Navy reservist you should know better than to malign Election Day filed mail ballots. Overseas military can vote on Election Day like every other citizen. But, it may take weeks for those ballots to arrive in the states from distant bases. Your idea of arrival by Election Day would disenfranchise tens of thousands of military voters.”
Trump hasn’t always been against mail-in voting. Last April he encouraged his supporters to get their votes in early, writing on social media: “ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!”
In an ad that ran in Pennsylvania at around the same time, Donald Trump Jr. said: “If you’re working a double shift, or family responsibilities prevent you from voting on Election Day, Joe Biden wins. Pennsylvania, I need you to join the mail-in voting list today.” (Biden was still the Democratic candidate at the time.)
Nearly 30% of Americans who voted in the 2024 presidential election used a mail-in ballot, according to a USA Today analysis, which also showed nearly 24% voted by mail in 2016, with Trump winning both those elections.