The Supreme Court has blocked new White House-backed Postal Service ballot-mail requirements from taking effect in the 2026 elections, leaving voters and election officials to operate under existing state procedures. The proposed requirements originated in an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on March 31. Postal Service to require approved ballot envelopes, voter-specific bar codes, and state-submitted lists of mail voters, measures the administration said would reduce fraud and protect election integrity.
Under the new rule, the Postal Service could have returned ballot mail that failed to meet its requirements, but Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said officials lacked sufficient time to implement it for 2026. State receipt deadlines therefore remain unchanged: 35 states require mailed ballots to arrive by Election Day, while 15 accept qualifying ballots received later, as shown on the map below. Still, the decision did not finally determine whether the Postal Service may impose similar requirements in future elections.
A ballot mailed by Election Day is not necessarily valid if it arrives later. Whether it can still be counted depends on the law where the voter casts it. Use the map below to find your state and see when your mail-in ballot must reach election officials to be counted.
Most states require ballots returned through the mail to reach election officials no later than Election Day, as shown in gray on the map. That group includes politically competitive states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Alabama sets noon, Indiana uses 6 p.m., and Arizona, Florida, New Mexico and Oklahoma use 7 p.m.
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah and Wisconsin allow arrivals until 8 p.m. Louisiana stands alone in the map’s earliest category. Its absentee ballots must arrive by 4:30 p.m. on the day before the election, regardless of the return method.
Elsewhere, a postmark can preserve a ballot that remains in transit when polls close. California and Oregon accept qualifying ballots for seven days after Election Day. Alaska, Maryland and Washington, D.C., provide 10-day windows, while Illinois allows 14 days.
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