Court in Minnesota ruled ballots must be in by 8 pm election night.

[Marius25]

Our courts are so ridiculously broken.

Link to tweet

?s=19

[bullimiami]

1. Is this the law in MI? The courts, voting systems, many institutions all broken.

[regnaD kciN]

4. In most states, the rule has always been that mail-in/absentee votes have to be received by then...

...but, then again, unless you live in a mail-only voting state (like mine, which only requires a postmark by then), the assumption has always been that very few people would be voting that way; there was really no expectation for an event like this pandemic, where half or so of all voters would be mailing in their ballots.

[BainsBane]

5. No

Or not in Minnesota anyway. Not sure if you meant Minnesota or Michigan. The law in Minnesota is that it has to be in 7 days after the election. https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/other-ways-to-vote/vote-early-by-mail/ The judge is ignoring the law.

[Klaralven]

8. Apparently yes.

2019 Minnesota Statutes
203B.08 MARKING AND RETURN OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS.

Subd. 3.Procedures on receipt of ballots. When absentee ballots are returned to a county auditor or municipal clerk, that official shall stamp or initial and date the return envelope and place it in a secure location with other return envelopes received by that office. Within five days after receipt, the county auditor or municipal clerk shall deliver to the ballot board all ballots received, except that during the 14 days immediately preceding an election, the county auditor or municipal clerk shall deliver all ballots received to the ballot board within three days. Ballots received on election day either (1) after 3:00 p.m., if delivered in person; or (2) after 8:00 p.m., if delivered by mail or a package delivery service, shall be marked as received late by the county auditor or municipal clerk, and must not be delivered to the ballot board.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/203B.08

There is a following subdivision:
"Subd. 4.Rules. The secretary of state shall adopt rules establishing procedures to be followed by county auditors and municipal clerks to assure accurate and timely return of absentee ballots. The rules of the secretary of state may authorize procedures and methods of return in addition to those specified in this section."

I guess that the court is interpreting "in addition to" to not mean that the SoS can change anything specified in the law.

The Appeals Court decision is at https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7278436-8th-Circuit-Court-of-Appeals-MN-absentee-ballot.html

[BainsBane]

2. That's NOT the law

The law is 7 days after election day. https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/other-ways-to-vote/vote-early-by-mail/
He's changing the law at the last minute. The MoFo can't do that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Actually, it is:

The statute governing absentee ballots says:

Sec. 203B.08, Subd. 3.Procedures on receipt of ballots. When absentee ballots are returned to a county auditor or municipal clerk, that official shall stamp or initial and date the return envelope and place it in a secure location with other return envelopes received by that office. Within five days after receipt, the county auditor or municipal clerk shall deliver to the ballot board all ballots received, except that during the 14 days immediately preceding an election, the county auditor or municipal clerk shall deliver all ballots received to the ballot board within three days. Ballots received on election day either (1) after 3:00 p.m., if delivered in person; or (2) after 8:00 p.m., if delivered by mail or a package delivery service, shall be marked as received late by the county auditor or municipal clerk, and must not be delivered to the ballot board.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/203B.08

However, the Secretary of State apparently relied on the following subdivision of the same statute when he extended the deadline:

Subd. 4. Rules. The secretary of state shall adopt rules establishing procedures to be followed by county auditors and municipal clerks to assure accurate and timely return of absentee ballots. The rules of the secretary of state may authorize procedures and methods of return in addition to those specified in this section.

So there's a conflict between the part of the statute that says the ballots have to be received on election day and the part that allows the secretary of state to authorize "procedures and methods of return" in addition to those specified. I haven't seen the court's order but I'm guessing that's why late ballots will be set aside pending a final resolution.

[Klaralven]

11. Page 2 of the opinion describes the process by which the deadline was changed by the SoS

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7278436-8th-Circuit-Court-of-Appeals-MN-absentee-ballot.html

[BainsBane]

12. People have been operating under those terms

Since ballots were first sent out. Changing it now is bullshit.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Of course. I wonder if there will be an appeal from the panel decision

to the full circuit court.

[question everything]

3. Early voting started Sept 18. And many public places accept ballots

What are people waiting for?

We were going to wait to Oct 27 for direct balloting but then realised that standing in line in a confined space is not for us, so dropped them by city hall last week. They were “open” - a tent in the parking lot - even during the blizzard.

[BainsBane]

6. When I was making calls on Sunday

some still hadn't turned in their ballots. We were telling them to drop them off, but who knows. They probably thought the courts would actually follow state law instead of changing it like this.

[mindem]

7. Hurry up and wait

They already had mine on September 29th. I wanted to make sure there was plenty of time.