JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A federal appeals court on Friday revived a lawsuit challenging Mississippi’s practice of counting mailed absentee ballots that were postmarked on Election Day but received up to five days later.

It appears unlikely that the ruling will have any impact on the November 5 election. The justices issued an order that the judgment would not officially be sent back to a lower court until seven days after the deadline to appeal their decision expired – which is typically at least 14 days. The effect of the judgment would therefore last well beyond November 5th.

Richard Hasen, a law professor at UCLA, wrote on his election law blog that the appeals court’s ruling was a “crazy opinion” and noted that “every other court hearing these cases has rejected this argument.”

The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned a July decision by U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., who had dismissed challenges to Mississippi’s election law by the Republican National Committee, the Libertarian Party of Mississippi and others. The appeals court order sent the case back to Guirola for further action, but the matter could end up in the Supreme Court.

Republicans filed more than 100 lawsuits challenging various aspects of voting after they were repeatedly criticized by judges in 2020 for filing complaints about how the election was conducted only after votes were counted.

While the final outcome in most elections in heavily Republican Mississippi is likely to be negligible, the case could also impact voting in swing states.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Mississippi is one of several states with laws that allow mailed ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day. The list includes swing states like Nevada and states like Colorado, Oregon and Utah that rely heavily on mail-in voting.

In July, a federal judge dismissed a similar lawsuit in Nevada. The Republican National Committee is asking the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate this case.

Guirola wrote that Mississippi law does not conflict with federal election laws. The lawsuit challenging the Mississippi law argued that the state was improperly extending federal elections and that doing so would “dilute timely, valid ballots with untimely, invalid ballots.”

Guirola disagreed, writing in July that “under Mississippi law, no ‘final selection’ is made after federal election day.” All that happens after election day is the delivery and counting of those cast on or before election day Ballot.”

Although the Mississippi Challenge was led by Republicans and Libertarians, there is bipartisan support for the Mississippi practice. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is defending the state’s top elections official. Foreign Secretary Michael Watson is a defendant in the case. Both are Republicans.

The members of the appeals panel that overturned Guirola were Judges James Ho, Stuart Kyle Duncan and Andrew Oldham, all of whom were nominated to the 5th Circuit by former President Donald Trump.

McGill reported from New Orleans. Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman contributed from Washington.