Federal Court Blocks Minnesota’s Extended Deadline For Counting Mail-In Ballots
A Minnesota federal appeals court ruled in favor of a GOP challenge to the state’s October 12 decision to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots up to a week after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by November 3. In a 2-1 decision, a panel of Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges ordered that mail-in ballots received after the 8 p.m. deadline on Tuesday be set aside. The panel argued that the previous extension violated the Constitution because Minnesota State Secretary Steve Simon extended the deadline without legislative authorization. “There is no pandemic excepti...