States Count

• The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that states are permitted to count mail-in ballots that were cast by Election Day even if they arrive after the deadline. • The decision rejects a legal challenge brought by the RNC and the Trump administration against a Mississippi law, which argued that all ballots must be received by Election Day. • This ruling maintains flexibility for states in managing mail-in voting timelines, countering efforts to strictly limit ballot reception to a single day.

• The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge from the Republican National Committee, ruling that states may count mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day. • The decision specifically upholds a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be tallied as long as they were postmarked by the date of the election. • This ruling clarifies that such state-level flexibility in ballot deadlines is not prohibited under current federal law.

• The Supreme Court rejected a Republican-led legal challenge that sought to ban the counting of mailed ballots arriving after Election Day. • The ruling upholds laws in the District of Columbia and more than half of U.S. states that allow late-arriving ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by the election date. • This decision prevents a significant shift in voting rules that Donald Trump and his allies had targeted ahead of the midterm elections.

• Vote counting starts at 8 AM on May 4, 2026, across Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal following high-stakes assembly elections in April. • Key contests include DMK's MK Stalin defending power in Tamil Nadu, BJP eyeing a hat-trick in Assam under Himanta Biswa Sarma against Congress's Gaurav Gogoi, and Trinamool Congress vs BJP in West Bengal's 294 seats. • Results are make-or-break for national players like BJP, Congress, DMK, TMC, and Left, with implications for delimitation debates and Dravidian politics dominance.

• The COVID-19 variant BA.3.2, nicknamed 'Cicada,' has spread to half the US states and at least 23 countries worldwide. • Health monitors track its emergence amid ongoing circulation of respiratory pathogens. • While specific severity data is pending, it adds to concerns over variant evolution and vaccine effectiveness.