Wisconsin appeals court decision, insists absentee ballots received after Election Day should not be counted

Fox News ^ | September 24 2020 | Vandana Rambaran

[knighthawk]

A federal judge ruled earlier this week to extend the cutoff to count absentee ballots by six days after the election, but the decision is being appealed by the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature and is expected to make its way all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge William Conley's decision came Monday after Democrats argued that an extension was needed to accommodate for the influx of voters requesting mail-in ballots, and allow them time to both receive and send back their votes just five weeks before the election.

Republicans have said there is more than enough time for absentee voters to arrange for their ballots to be submitted by the original cutoff of 8 p.m. on Election Day, and Wisconsin's GOP leaders said Wednesday they plan to ask the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to put the ruling on hold pending appeal.

[joe fonebone]

I don’t know about PA, but Michigan GOP are gutless go along to get along do nothing piles of steaming dung..... When they are not on vacation that is...

[pepsi_junkie]

You would think this is easy. But a huge percent of ballots will be tossed because people are idiots who cannot follow instructions.

Some states, mine included, are apparently planning to use only mailed in ballots. The plan is that if you insist on voting in person they have made it really hard by cutting the number of polling places to a small few (so they are probably not close) and only allowing you to turn in your mail-in ballot in person, basically just skipping the post office. If you've tossed it because you planned to vote in person then you have to go to some courthouse somewhere to request permission to vote. In other words, they are making in-person voting so onerous that nobody (they hope) will do it.

I dare say that if you show up at your polling place and discover that now you have to drive 20 miles but you soldier on only to find that you need to go to a courthouse somewhere else and request a new ballot a lot of people will just say 'F-it. I have to get to work'

[Pollard]

We’ve been hearing about these places doing mail-in-ballots for 2-3 months now. Should have been plenty of time to get them printed up and be about done mailing them out as we speak.

I’ll be voting in person just like pretty much everyone in MO outside of maybe St Louis. I voted in the primary at the volunteer fire dept bldg a few miles up the road. Three old ladies, one wearing a mask but had it on her chin and the other two no masks at all. Love being rural, most of the time.

[Political Junkie Too]

Republicans have said there is more than enough time for absentee voters to arrange for their ballots to be submitted by the original cutoff of 8 p.m. on Election Day

Republicans shouldn't fall into the trap of debating the merits of the ruling.

Republicans should argue that the court has no jurisdiction to make the ruling, no matter the merits, because the Constitution gives the power to the legislature regarding Electors.

Republicans should say that court's ruling should only apply to down-ticket votes that arrive late, but the Presidential vote will be counted on ballots received on or before Election Day only.

-PJ

[themidnightskulker]

Congress passed a law in 1845 that Election Day is designated as the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November as Election Day.
All this talk about Extended voting or early voting is moot as the law is pretty explicit. (Unless they have changed the law and I didn’t hear about it.) (possible)

[themidnightskulker]

this by definition is voter disenfranchisement.

[Daaave]

Cat gets voter registration application in the mail – after dying 12 years ago. Owner says her late pet was a 'Democat' Fox News

These democats are going to try to steal the election, again!

[mrsmith]

Joe Isuzu writing the headlines now?

[gbscott]

“The date is arbitrary”

Actually, the date is set by federal law as the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. This can make it as early as November 2nd or as late as November 8th.

[redheadedshannon]

Can someone decipher the daggum title of this article. Did an appeals court overturn a previous leftist ruling & insist that ballots cannot be counted after election day or is this an article about the ruling that allows it? Title is terrible 😃

[CharlesWayneCT]

Personally, I would be fine with allowing absentee ballots to be counted the next day, provided the postal service was able to verify that they had been placed in mail boxes before 8pm on election night (when the election ends in Wisconsin and they start announcing votes).

This would require that the post office pay overtime for workers to go and collect mail from every mailbox at 8pm.

You know, absentee ballots from military are required to be counted for 7 days after the election, so it’s not like we are introducing something new here. The outrageous changes being made are

- Not requiring a matching signature
- Not requiring a legible postmark
- Not requiring a witness signature
- Not requiring a sealed security envelope
- Allowing election boards to pre-count and leak the numbers

[aimhigh]

Oregon has had mail in voting for 20 years. Ballots have to be received on time, or they are not counted (at least that is what our law says.)

[wiley]

Agree. Voters need to exhibit some level of initiative.