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Thursday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked the mailing of all of the state’s mail-in ballots. The issue divided the court along party lines. On one side, Republicans in the court voted to block the ballots until Green Party member Howie Hawkins could be added to the ballot. On the other side, Democrats wanted to rush to send the ballots out before the Green Party candidate could be added.
This is likely because the Green Party candidate is likely to bleed votes from Joe Biden. In 2016, Green Party candidate Jill Stein received more votes than the difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in Wisconsin, leading some Democrats in the state to blame Stein for Clinton’s defeat.
It seems Wisconsin Democrats are afraid of a repeat performance of 2016 in the state.
Interestingly, this Supreme Court ruling comes only one week before the deadline to mail out the ballots that Wisconsin voters have requested.
September 17 is the day set in state law as the deadline for mailing out the ballots. If the court cases surrounding Hawkins’ inclusion on the ballot aren’t concluded by the 17th, the ballots will have to be sent as-is. As such, Republicans are hoping for a speedy resolution to Howie’s case.
Another odd wrinkle in this case is that rapper Kanye West is also running for president. He has sued to be placed on the mail-in ballots in Wisconsin, as well.
Many have dismissed Kanye’s bid for the presidency as a ridiculous ego trip, though the superstar rapper insists he is serious. Kanye’s high-profile friendship with President Trump has complicated the artist’s bid for the presidency.
Democrats have amassed a head-start on Republicans in the 2020 election. Early returns from election officials show many more registered Democrats than Republicans have ordered mail-in ballots.
However, GOP strategists aren’t worried. Many have pointed out that Democrats are simply front-loading their likely voters. As such, this won’t account for a huge difference: the same number of people are voting, just through a different avenue.
Election Day voting could be complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many likely voters have ordered mail-in ballots to avoid waiting in long lines with crowds of people. Medical experts agree that crowds are to be avoided during the pandemic.
However, some Republican voters have expressed hesitance about mail-in voting, due to Trump’s insistence that absentee ballots are prone to fraud. Despite these statements, research into the practice has shown there is little evidence of mail-in voter fraud in the US.
