The chair of Wisconsin’s state Democratic Party on Monday blasted a U.S. Supreme Court decision that required all absentee ballots be posted by Tuesday to be counted in the state’s election.
Ben Wikler tweeted Monday afternoon that he was “about to explode” after the Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ruling ordering the state to accept absentee ballots sent any time before April 13, a move that was initially meant to expand participation in the primary during the coronavirus outbreak.
“I am about to explode. The five GOP US Supreme Court justices just overruled two lower courts and shut off extended absentee voting in Wisconsin,” he tweeted.
“The Supreme Court of the United States legislated from the bench today, following Trump team’s orders and writing a new election law to disenfranchise untold thousands of Wisconsin voters and consign an unknown number of Wisconsinites to their deaths,” he added. “This is now etched into history. Donald Trump doesn’t care how many of his followers die—and how many people they infect and kill—if it helps him maintain power.”
A lower court had previously ruled that the state would accept any ballots postmarked up until April 13. The state will now only accept ballots postmarked by Tuesday’s date, April 7, and received in the mail by April 13.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, explained that allowing such an extension “fundamentally alters the nature of the election.”
Wikler’s remarks come in response to a whirlwind of court decisions and moves from state officials affecting the Wisconsin primary, which is set for tomorrow. Gov. Tony Evers (D) previously issued an executive order delaying the primary due to coronavirus concerns, a move which was also reversed by the state’s Supreme Court.