October 9, 2020 By Andrea Widburg
Last month, an Obama-appointed district court judge in Wisconsin ruled that any ballots that arrived in the six days after the election must still be counted as long as they were postmarked on Election Day. However, a three-judge panel on the Seventh Circuit reversed the ruling. This is yet another case in which appellate judges have stepped back from allowing an activist lower court judge to create chaos in the election's aftermath.
Wisconsin has been roiled by an ongoing battle about counting absentee ballots. The Republicans, including the Republican-majority Legislature, believe that absentee ballots must be counted according to the laws on the books: all absentee ballots must arrive by 8 P.M. on Election Day if they're to be counted.
However, Democrats have been pushing to have the counting extended by almost a week — a plan that includes allowing people to mail their ballots as late as November 3. The Democrats could not get the law changed, so they did what Democrats always do when the people's representatives stand in their way: they made a beeline for the courthouse.
The case ended up before U.S. District Court judge William Conley, an Obama appointee. Conley ruled that, as long as absentee ballots were postmarked on November 3, they could still be counted even if they arrived as late as November 9. In other words, Conley rewrote the law.
The Republican Legislature appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which tried to reject the appeal on procedural grounds. It contended that the Legislature had no standing because the matter was one of the state's executive office — and the governor is a Democrat. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, however, concluded that the Legislature has a say in defending the validity of its laws. The appellate court then accepted the case................. To Read More
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