COURT LETS STAND Wisconsin’s 6-day ballot deadline.

MADISON, Wis. — A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined a request by Republicans to suspend a ruling that will allow absentee ballots to be counted for six days after the election in the presidential battleground state.

The Republican National Committee, state Republican Party and GOP-controlled Legislature asked the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to keep its ruling on hold until the Wisconsin Supreme Court could address a separate question about whether the Legislature has standing to sue in the case.

Hours after the request was made, the court denied it with no comment.

Keeping the ruling on hold would be in keeping with federal court precedent to “avoid sowing ‘voter confusion’ during an impending [or, here, ongoing] election,” attorneys for the Legislature wrote.

The filing came a day after the appeals court vacated its stay of a lower court ruling that granted the six-day extension for counting ballots. The court ruled that the Legislature, the Republican National Committee and state Republican Party did not have the legal standing to bring the case.

If it’s determined that the Legislature does have standing, then the state and national Republican parties would not have to argue why they do, the parties wrote in a court filing, noting that they would respond by the court’s Oct. 6 deadline to show why they believe they have standing and that their case should not be dismissed.

In Wisconsin, absentee ballots typically must be received by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day. Democrats and their allies sued, arguing that more time was needed to count them this year because of the large number of absentee ballots being cast due to the coronavirus pandemic. A federal court judge on Sept. 21 agreed and granted the extension, which the appeals court upheld.

Wisconsin elections officials anticipate as many as 2 million people will cast absentee ballots to avoid the risk of catching the coronavirus at the polls. As of Wednesday, more than 1.2 million absentee ballots had been requested and more than 350,000 had been returned. The last day to request a mail-in ballot is Oct. 29, but officials say people who want to vote that way should not wait that long.

Similarly, a federal judge has ruled that Indiana law cannot dismiss mail-in ballots that don’t arrive at county election offices by noon on Election Day.

The decision issued late Tuesday orders state election officials to count mail-in ballots if they are postmarked on or before Nov. 3 and received by voting offices no later than Nov. 13.

It comes as county election officials are preparing coronavirus precautions for in-person voting on Nov. 3 while handling a surge in mail-in ballots. The Republicans who control state government have largely resisted calls from Democrats and voting rights groups to ease limits on who can cast mail-in ballots and change the noon Election Day deadline for their arrival.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker rejected arguments from state attorneys that extending the deadline would confuse voters, add strain to county election staff and delay the completion of vote counting.

“Election Day is set by law as November 3 all day on November 3 until the polls officially close,” Barker wrote. “Any voter casting a ballot has the right to do so within that time frame. The noon Election Day receipt deadline disadvantages — indeed, disenfranchises — voters who vote by mail-in ballot by cutting short the time period within which they are permitted to exercise this right even though, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the timely delivery of their ballots is outside their control.”

Meanwhile, the Montana Supreme Court has said the current state law will be in force for the general election — mailed ballots must be received by county offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

Tuesday’s ruling was the second time in this election cycle the Montana Supreme Court blocked a lower court order that would have allowed ballots postmarked by Election Day and received by the following Monday to be counted.

Also, a federal judge in Montana on Wednesday rejected an effort by President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and Republican Party groups to block Montana counties from holding the general election mostly by mail, saying claims that such a system could be marred by widespread voter fraud is “a fiction.”

“When pressed during the hearing in this matter, the plaintiffs were compelled to concede that they cannot point to a single instance of voter fraud in Montana in any election during the last 20 years,” U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen wrote. Information for this article was contributed by Tom Davies and Amy Beth Hanson of The Associated Press.