Appellate court halts Wisconsin ballot-counting extension

[RandySF]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Sunday temporarily halted a six-day extension for counting absentee ballots in Wisconsin’s presidential election, a momentary victory for Republicans and President Donald Trump in the key presidential battleground state.

As it stands, ballots will now be due by 8 p.m. on Election Day. A lower court judge had sided with Democrats and their allies to extend the deadline until Nov. 9. Democrats sought more time as a way to help deal with an expected historic high number of absentee ballots.

The Democratic National Committee, the state Democratic Party and allied groups including the League of Women Voters sued to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots after the April presidential primary saw long lines, fewer polling places, a shortage of workers and thousands of ballots mailed days after the election.

U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled Sept. 21 that ballots that arrive up to six days after Election Day will count as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day. Sunday’s action puts Conley’s order on hold until the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals or U.S. Supreme Court issues any further action.

No further details were immediately posted by the appeals court.

State election officials anticipate as many as 2 million people will cast absentee ballots to avoid catching the coronavirus at the polls. That would be three times more absentee ballots than any other previous election and could overwhelm both election officials and the postal service, Conley wrote. If the decision had stood it could have delayed knowing the winner of Wisconsin for days.

The Republican National Committee, the state GOP and Wisconsin’s Republican legislators argued that current absentee voting rules be left in place, saying people have plenty of time to obtain and return their ballots.


https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-wisconsin-elections-us-supreme-court-courts-9f58fae97f3296c1a318f9f1082cf198?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP

[a kennedy]

1. DAMN. DAMN. DAMN.

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Biden is averaging 8pts over Trump, so even this may not be enough to block Joe nt

[LisaL]

5. спасибо за совет

NT

[Rice4VP]

12. I know right...especially if your state has early

voting. Just pretend like it’s a trip to the supermarket. Wear 3 masks and gloves and stay away from people

[Drunken Irishman]

13. Trump wants people to vote in person. That's the only way to guarantee he wins reelection.

People who push in-person voting, and attack mail-in voting, are helping Trump win - either through their own ignorance or they're purposely doing it.

Most Democrats live in urban areas. Most urban areas have seen their polling places halved - if not worse since the pandemic began. It's absolutely voter suppression to ask Democratic voters to stand in line for five-plus hours during a pandemic to cast their ballot.

If every Democrat were to forego voting by mail, we'll lose in a landslide because we're not operating under a typical election. Fewer polling locations + everyone voting in person is a recipe for disaster.

[LisaL]

14. I am pretty sure low post count posters are purposely doing it.

Totally agree with your post. For instance my state, OH, is low on poll workers.
It also only allows one early voting place per county. Now imagine one polling place for a county of over million people.
People who claim we should vote in person either don't know what they are talking about, or probably Trumpers doing it on purpose.

[Drunken Irishman]

17. You're wrong - or a troll.

And therefore purposely lying.

If Trump wanted Democrats to vote by mail, he wouldn't be out there lying about voting by mail. It's simple: If Democrats vote in person, we lose. We lose because most major US metros have closed hundreds of voting sites due to the lack of poll watchers and the pandemic. That means, for many Democratic voters, voting in person would potentially take HOURS. During a pandemic.

[Drunken Irishman]

19. Early voting has its limits.

There's still going to be a significant amount of people who won't be able to utilize it in a way.

We must push people to vote by mail or we will lose this election. In-person voting during a pandemic is setting us up to have millions and millions of Democratic voters disenfranchised.

[AleksS]

4. How self unaware do you have to be not to realize

That when you’re the team arguing AGAINST counting all the votes, you’re probably the bad guys.

What would it take for the GOP to realize they’re the baddies? I begin to wonder if anything could?

I Mean some things should be so blatantly obvious, things like:

Counting everyone’s votes is good.

If you find yourself on the side fighting against it, it should trigger some level of self-inspection.

But with today’s GOPers, it doesn’t.

[Iliyah]

6. When Biden/Harris wins . . .

This only solidified a solid win. republicans are writing our defense/offense for the win.

[Hoyt]

7. Assuming no change, voters need to mail it in early or use drop boxes.

Not that hard. For any hardships, local Democrats will help.

[LisaL]

9. Yep, Wisconsin started to vote. Early get those ballots back early,

and you don't have to worry what is decided by the appeals court.

[Hoyt]

15. The mail is working fine unless one waits. Use ballot drop boxes

if concerned.

No excuses this year.

[Hoyt]

21. So the postal workers are going to throw the election for trump?

[jorgevlorgan]

8. Probably inconsequential either way.

If those ballots would make a difference, we wouldnt be in a good place, anyways. Nonetheless, people deserve to have their votes counted.

[Rice4VP]

10. So what? Just mail your damn ballot back

ASAP or vote in person.