In reversal, court says Wisconsin absentee ballots must be returned by Election Day

[brooklynite]

Source: Milwaukke Journal Sentinel

MADISON - A divided appeals court Thursday reinstated a Wisconsin law requiring absentee ballots to be counted only if they are returned by Election Day.

The decision reverses a court ruling from last month that would have allowed more time for counting ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic. Under that order, absentee ballots would have been counted for up to a week after Election Day if they were postmarked on or before Election Day.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.



Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2020/10/08/reversal-court-says-wisconsin-absentee-ballots-must-returned-election-day/5925677002/

[jorgevlorgan]

1. People should have always been prioritizing getting their ballots back before election day

Waiting last minute to vote is never a good idea

[napi21]

2. I don't see a problem with that. Just mail it within 4-5 days before election day. n/t

[regnaD kciN]

4. Use a drop box if available...

I have zero confidence that DeJoy won’t suddenly order a “temporary closure” of the USPS in the last week of the campaign.

[yellowcanine]

6. Assuming the USPS is going to get it there.

4-5 days is not a safe assumption.

[csziggy]

15. Yes - I had a piece of first class mail that took six weeks to be returned

To sender. It only had to travel about a mile and a half but the Postal Service was unable to deliver it to my PO Box. They marked it as "unclaimed" - for a first class number 10 envelope - a standard business envelope - and sent it back to the office that mailed it to me. Typed address, so it was not unreadable, either.

Aside from the fact that the carrier was not able to take the mail back to the branch they work out of and put it into a PO Box in the same branch, why did it take 6 fucking weeks to return to sender?

In this town, there is no way in hell I would trust a ballot to get anywhere when mailed, especially not in 4-5 days!

[33taw]

10. Way too late for mail. Mail at least two weeks before or

drop it off at the election clerk’s office.

[regnaD kciN]

3. I think we need to be working from the assumption...

...that the Repug-packed courts are going to throw out each and every measure to make absentee voting easier, and planning accordingly.

[pfitz59]

5. The rule in most states is mail-in ballots must be "post-marked" by election day.

Congress could fix this with a national law, but won't.

[regnaD kciN]

9. Depends on the state...

I’m guessing that, in Wisconsin, the original law said it had to be received by then. I know that states like up here, where mail-voting is mandatory, have the postmark rule, but I would think that states holding that absentee ballots should be few and far between aren’t as lenient.

[procon]

7. That's just wrong.

Voters can't be held accountable for something they have no control over. Once their ballot leaves their hands the voter has no means of getting it delivered in time, so why are they penalized?

Even if most people make a good faith effort to mail their ballots as soon as possible, that might not always be possible. For example look at military voters, expats living in remote areas, or even just the elderly and disabled who can't get to a mailbox without aid.

You can mail your ballot in what seems like plenty of time to arrive before the deadline, but then it has to run an obstacle course that Trump put in place at the USPS to suppress the vote. How is the voter responsible for that?

Clearing that, your ballot has get around al the traps set by red state politicians to nullify your ballot. There's nothing a voter can do to stop them.

[33taw]

11. I handed my absentee ballot in on Election Day

I personally handed it to the National Guard. Early voting in WI is Oct 20th to 30th. Call your election office and they can set up an appointment if necessary. Absentee ballots can be delivered to secure drop boxes. Do not rely on mail service.

[Thekaspervote]

8. Your daily friendly reminder not to trust your ballot to the mail...PLEASE

[radius777]

12. Dems likely to appeal to Supreme Court

AP:Court blocks extension of Wisconsin absentee ballot deadline1
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked a decision to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots by six days in battleground Wisconsin, in a win for Republicans who have fought attempts to expand voting across the country.

If the ruling stands, absentee ballots will have to be delivered to Wisconsin election clerks by 8 p.m. on Election Day if they are to be counted. The ruling makes it more likely that results of the presidential race in the pivotal swing state will be known within hours of poll closing.

Democrats almost certainly will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. A spokesman and an attorney didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Under state law, absentee ballots are due in local clerks’ offices by 8 p.m. on election night. But Democrats and allied groups sued to extend the deadline after the April presidential primary saw long lines, fewer polling places, a shortage of poll workers and thousands of ballots mailed days after the election. Wisconsin, like much of the rest of the country, is already seeing massive absentee voting for November and the state expects as many as 2 million people to vote absentee.

U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled last month that any ballots that arrive in clerk’s offices by Nov. 9 will be counted, as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3. In that ruling, Conley noted the heavy absentee load and the possibility it could overwhelm election officials and the postal service.
...
Justices Frank Easterbrook and Amy St. Eve voted to stay the order and Ilana Rovner opposed.
...
Rovner, in a blistering dissent, highlighted the coronavirus threat to citizens in Wisconsin, currently one of the nation’s worst hot spots. Conley came up with a “limited, reasonable set of modifications” to election rules to preserve “the precious right of each Wisconsin citizen to vote,” she wrote.

Wonder if SCOTUS would take it up, and if so would Roberts and Gorsuch vote with us.

The bottom line is people need to either vote in person (early voting is available in most states) or hand deliver your ballot.

[FBaggins]

13. I doubt that there are four votes to take it up

They've had a couple of recent rulings that appear to be saying that they aren't interested in changing election rules this late in the game.

[MineralMan]

14. Given the back and forth by the courts on this,

every Democrat should make sure their ballots are in the hands of election officials on or before election day. It is that simple. There is no excuse for not doing so.

Let the Republicans procrastinate.

Vote Early or Vote on November 3!