A federal appeals court ruled that Wisconsin absentee ballots must be returned to election clerks by 8 p.m. on Election Day, blocking a U.S. district judge’s decision that allowed ballots to be counted up to six days after the election.
“The State Legislature offers two principal arguments in support of a stay: first, that a federal court should not change the rules so close to an election; second, that political rather than judicial officials are entitled to decide when a pandemic justifies changes to rules that are otherwise valid,” Justices Frank Easterbrook and Amy St. Eve wrote for the majority. “We agree with both of those arguments.”
U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled last month that ballots that arrive at the clerk’s offices by Nov. 9, six days after Election Day, could be counted, as long as they were postmarked by Nov 3. Thursday’s decision reverses that ruling.
Wisconsin state law mandates that ballots are due by 8 p.m. on the night of the election, but Democrats and other groups sued to extend the deadline. April’s presidential primary in the state was plagued with few polling places, and thousands of absentee ballots were mailed days after the election.
Justice Ilana Rovner dissented in the Thursday ruling, citing fears over the coronavirus being a threat to citizens going to the polls.
“Today, in the midst of a pandemic and significantly slowed mail delivery, this court leaves voters to their own devices,” she wrote. “Good luck and G-d bless, Wisconsin. You are going to need it.”
Polls currently show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with a lead in Wisconsin, but President Trump faced similar circumstances in the lead-up to the 2016 election before narrowly winning the state.
