SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS (WCIA) — State officials in Springfield are responding to significant news from Washington. On Monday morning, the Supreme Court announced a decision permitting states to include ballots that arrive after election day, provided they were postmarked before.
This decision may carry significant implications for voters in Illinois. Nevertheless, advocates emphasize that the debate surrounding vote-by-mail is far from concluded.
During typical election years, Barbara Kwiatkowsky and the League of Women Voters dedicate their efforts to voter education. However, in 2026, their focus has shifted toward developments within the country’s highest judicial body.
“We can finally breathe a bit easier. We had been anxiously anticipating this decision. I won’t sugarcoat the relief,” shared Kwiatkowsky, who serves as the Vice President of Issues & Advocacy for the Illinois League of Women Voters.
The case causing so much anxiety for the League of Women Voters was Watson vs the Republican National Committee. The RNC was arguing that a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted up to five days after polls close was violating federal law. That law sets the dates of election as the second Tuesday in November.
But the court disagreed, saying Election Day statutes in federal law say nothing about ballot receipt.
“The court has recognized, fundamentally, that state and local governments are responsible for running our elections, number one. And number two, that the states can set the rules for accepting mail in ballots, which have become increasingly the form that people use in order to vote,” said Ed Yohnka with the ACLU of Illinois.
So now those states who count postmarked ballots after Election Day — including Illinois — can continue on as normal.
“It just really reiterated and reinforced certainly everything that the league stands for, which is you know, registration of voters, education of voters, education of voters is very big, voter participation and accessibility,” said Kwiatkowsky.
But mail-in ballots are facing another challenge.
Last week, the US Postmaster General said he would fall in line with President Trump’s recent Executive Order to stop delivering any mail in ballots for states that haven’t turned over complete voter rolls to his administration. A federal court has issued an injunction, meaning the order isn’t in effect yet.
Yohnka thinks it’s a sign of things to come for the President.
“Just like the postal service, the White House and the President have nothing to do with overseeing elections in the United States. Specifically, that is granted to the states so you will see courts striking down, I think, any attempt to to implement that rule,” said Yohnka.