Ballots postmarked by Election Day but received by April 13, though, still count.
Since the Wisconsin supreme court refused to allow Gov. Evers to push up the date, voters had no choice but to submit ballots late because many did not receive them until after Election Day.
As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported:
"A little over an hour later, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a second blow to the Democratic governor by tightening limits on which absentee ballots can be counted. Under that 5-4 order, voters will have to mail back their absentee ballots by Tuesday, go to the polls that day or give up their opportunity to vote."
The Court's conservative majority defended the decision, claiming they are defending "the integrity of the election process."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the Court's few liberal voices, however, wrote in her dissent the court's order "will result in massive disenfranchisement."
She explained:
"Rising concern about the COVID19 pandemic has caused a late surge in absentee-ballot requests. " Some 150,000 requests for absentee ballots have been processed since Thursday, state records indicate. The surge in absentee ballot requests has overwhelmed election officials, who face a huge backlog in sending ballots. As of Sunday morning, 12,000 ballots reportedly had not yet been mailed out. It takes days for a mailed ballot to reach its recipientthe postal service recommends budgeting a weekeven without accounting for pandemic-induced mail delays. It is therefore likely that ballots mailed in recent days will not reach voters by tomorrow; for ballots not yet mailed, late arrival is all but certain."
She warned:
"The question here is whether tens of thousands of Wisconsin citizens can vote safely in the midst of a pandemic. Under the District Court's order, they would be able to do so. Even if they receive their absentee ballot in the days immediately following election day, they could return it. With the majority's stay in place, that will not be possible. Either they will have to brave the polls, endangering their own and others' safety. Or they will lose their right to vote, through no fault of their own. That is a matter of utmost importanceto the constitutional rights of Wisconsin's citizens, the integrity of the State's election process, and in this most extraordinary time, the health of the Nation."
Make no mistake: this is a test-run for November, especially since there has been serious discussion lately about nationwide mail-in paper ballots.
And if there is one thing Republicans absolutely do not want, it's more people voting.
Paul Weyrich, the founder of conservative think tanks The Heritage Foundation, the Free Congress Foundation, and the American Legislative Exchange Council, admitted as much at a religious right gathering back in 1980.
Last week, Donald Trump publicly echoed that sentiment when he admitted during an interview with Fox & Friends it was good increased voting protections and ballot access proposals were omitted from last week's coronavirus relief package because "you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again."
A broken clock is right twice a day, as the saying goes.
The Republican party has not legitimately won the White House since Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s.
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