True or False: During the Civil War era when absentee voting first emerged at scale, Union and Confederate states enacted soldier-voting laws allowing ballots to be received weeks after Election Day.

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True. During the Civil War, when absentee voting first emerged at scale, Union and Confederate states enacted soldier-voting laws routinely allowing ballots to be received weeks after Election Day. Multiple states established grace periods far longer than Mississippi's 5-day window. Congress enacted the first federal statute establishing uniform election day in 1872—seven years after the Civil War ended—against the backdrop of these widespread state practices without mandating same-day receipt. This historical evidence supports Mississippi's argument that "election day" sets the voting deadline, not the receipt deadline.

True or False: During the Civil War era when absentee voting first emerged at scale, Union and Confederate states enacted soldier-voting laws allowing ballots to be received weeks after Election Day.

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