WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court decided that Wisconsin ballots received after Election Day cannot be counted. The decision reversed a lower court order that called for mailed ballots to be counted if received up to six days after the November 3 election. The Supreme Court decision was 5-3. How the decision broken down:
> Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanagh and Clarence Thomas, all Republican appointees to the Court.
> Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, all Democratic appointees.
The original extension had been sought by Democrats in Wisconsin because a crush of mail-in ballots threatened to overwhelm the U.S. Postal Service, compounding problems with recent relays in delivering mail. Chief Justice Roberts said that courts have no business overriding state election laws, even in the face of the pandemic and mail problems.
Appellate path
A District Court judge in Wisconsin issued an order on September 21 pushing back the state’s due date for mail ballots from the close of polls on Election Day to November. 9, as long as ballots were postmarked by November 3.
In October, a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago decided 2-1 to suspend the District Court decision.
The U.S. Supreme Court then decided to consider the issue.