Ruby Lenora casts her in-person vote on her 73rd birthday at a polling site at the Milwaukee Public Library?s Washington Park location in Milwaukee, on the first day of in-person voting in Wisconsin, U.S., October 20, 2020.
Bing Guan | Reuters
The Supreme Court on Monday evening voted 5-3 against Democrats who were pushing to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots in Wisconsin by six days, to Nov. 9.
The decision, announced in an order, came eight days before Election Day. Wisconsin is a key battleground state in the battle between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
The court’s eight justices divided along partisan lines.
The top court’s order followed a ruling from District Court Judge William Conley last month extending the state’s absentee ballot counting deadline in response to a suit from the Democratic National Committee and its allies.
A panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that ruling earlier this month. The Democrats appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse the appeals court ruling, but the justices declined to do so.
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