Attorney General Bonta Joins Multistate Amicus Supporting Mississippi Voting Rights Law that Increases Participation in our Elections

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined a multistate coalition of 19 attorneys general in an amicus brief supporting a Mississippi voting rights law challenged by the Republican National Committee in Republican National Committee v. Wetzel. The amicus brief filed before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals supports the Mississippi law that permits absentee ballots to be counted if postmarked by Election Day and received within five days of Election Day, and argues that the law falls squarely within States' constitutional authority to regulate elections. In the brief, the coalition urges the Fifth Circuit Court to reject this challenge to Mississippi's law to preserve access to free and fair elections for Mississippi's electorate.

“Everyone deserves to have their voices heard when casting their ballot. As Republicans try to make it harder for Americans to participate in our democracy, California is standing up for voters, and defending Mississippi's constitutional absentee ballot law,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Our democracy works best when everyone can participate. We must protect the American democratic right to vote through fair elections. Throughout our history, absentee voting has been an important tool to ensure voter participation. California stands with Mississippi and the majority of other states who use their constitutional authority to increase voters' access to our democracy.”

The coalition argues in the brief that a majority of states permit counting at least some mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day and that states’ flexibility to make policy judgments in this area comes from their constitutional authority to regulate effective and efficient elections. Ballot-receipt deadlines can exist and have existed side-by-side with the federal election-day statutes, and Mississippi’s and other states’ laws fall neatly into the framework envisioned by the Framers and enacted by election-day statutes. These attacks on voting rights in Mississippi harm voters and undermine confidence in our upcoming election. 

Absentee voting has long existed as a way to increase voter participation. It first appeared in America before its founding, became more common during and after the Civil War, and entered the mainstream in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Extending ballot-receipt deadlines has become especially important as more people vote absentee. State laws permitting absentee voting have multiplied in recent years, and so too has voters’ utilization of absentee voting. Between 1996 and 2016, the share of ballots cast by mail rose from 7.8% to 20.9%. Mail-in voting increased even more during the 2020 elections given the COVID-19 pandemic, and has maintained popularity since, with 31.9% of votes cast in the 2022 elections by mail. 

As absentee voting increases, laws like Mississippi’s play a crucial role in maximizing voter participation. Voting absentee shifts some of the voting process from voting machines to the postal system. Statutes like Mississippi’s help mitigate the risks of that shift. Post offices need several days to deliver ballots in ideal circumstances, and as more voters cast ballots by mail, the post office will only need more time. States throughout the country have used their authority to regulate elections to set ballot-receipt deadlines, many of which fall after Election Day with the stipulation that the ballot must be postmarked and mailed by Election Day. These receipt deadlines serve an important role in maximizing voter participation and minimizing voter distrust. 

Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting the right to vote. This week, he sent a letter to executives at eight of the largest social media and artificial intelligence (AI) companies, reminding them that California laws prohibit certain types of voter intimidation, deception, and dissuasion and that those laws may apply to content posted on social media platforms and content generated by AI. On July 26, 2024, he filed a lawsuit against Fresno County challenging its recently passed initiative, Measure A, which amended the county’s charter to move elections for district attorney and sheriff away from the presidential cycle to the gubernatorial cycle. On April 30, 2024, he joined a multistate coalition in an amicus brief in support of Delaware’s election officials, who were defending a challenge to Delaware’s early voting law. On April 15, 2024, he filed a lawsuit against the city of Huntington Beach challenging its voter identification law, Measure A, which amended the city’s charter to purportedly allow the city to impose voter ID requirements at the polls for all municipal elections starting in 2026. On February 5, 2024, he joined a coalition of 51 bipartisan attorneys general in issuing a warning letter to a company that allegedly sent New Hampshire residents scam election robocalls during the New Hampshire primary election. On December 7, 2023, he joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general in an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs challenging Mississippi’s constitutional provisions that permanently disenfranchise persons convicted of certain felony offenses.

Attorney General Bonta joins the Attorneys General from the District of Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. 

A copy of the brief can be found here.