The Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin’s attempt to extend absentee voting by allowing ballots that were postmarked after Tuesday’s primary elections to be accepted.
“Extending the date by which ballots may be cast by voters — not just received by the municipal clerks but cast by voters — for an additional six days after the scheduled election day fundamentally alters the nature of the election,” Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said in the opinion for the 5-4 majority on Monday.
“The district court, acting in view of the dramatically evolving COVID–19 pandemic, entered a preliminary injunction to safeguard the availability of absentee voting in Wisconsin’s spring election,” Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in a minority opinion, which was joined by all the court’s liberal members.
Absentee ballots were set to be accepted until April 13, but now, they must be postmarked by April 7.
The state’s Supreme Court also stopped Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers from postponing the Tuesday election. Evers had attempted to delay the primary until June 9 over coronavirus concerns.
“As much as the court would prefer that the Wisconsin Legislature and Governor consider the public health ahead of any political considerations, that does not appear in the cards. Nor is it appropriate for a federal-district court to act as the state’s chief health official by taking that step for them,” the ruling said.
So far, more than a dozen states have postponed their primaries because of the coronavirus pandemic.
