The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday blocked Wisconsin’s mail-in-voting deadline extension ahead of the November election

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisconsin extended the deadline for online and mail-in registration by a week and extended the deadline for receipt of ballots to six days after the presidential election. However, this extension has been challenged in the courts as unconstitutional.

In its opinion, the appeals court noted that “deciding how best to cope with difficulties caused by disease is principally a task for the elected branches of government” and not the duty of a judicial official.

The court further opined:

Voters have had many months since March to register or obtain absentee ballots; reading the Constitution to extend deadlines near the election is difficult to justify when the voters have had a long time to cast ballots while preserving social distancing. The pandemic has had consequence (and appropriate governmental responses) that change with time, but the fundamental proposition that social distance is necessary has not changed since March. The district court did not find that any person who wants to avoid voting in person on Election Day would be unable to cast a ballot in Wisconsin by planning ahead and taking advantage of the opportunities allowed by state law. The problem that concerned the district judge, rather, was the difficulty that could be encountered by voters who do not plan ahead and wait until the last say that state allows for certain steps. Yet, as the Supreme Court observed last April in this very case, voters who wait until the last minute face problems with or without a pandemic.

Judge Rovner disagreed with the majority, stating that they prioritized “legislative prerogative over a citizen’s fundamental right to vote.” He further stated that “today, in the midst of a pandemic and significantly slowed mail delivery, this court leaves voters to their own devices.”