Republicans in the state of Minnesota filed a lawsuit after the state government announced that late mail-in ballots could be counted up to 8 days after Election Day, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
The plaintiffs in the suit are state representative Eric Lucero (R-Minn.) and elector James Carson (R-Minn.), who sued Secretary of State Steve Simon, the man who ultimately made the decision to extend the ballot-counting deadline by just over a week. The lawsuit points out that such a decision being made by one statewide official violates the U.S. Constitution because it failed to consult the state legislature, and also allows for the counting of ballots that have “no post mark and no evidence of having been cast on November 3rd.”
Secretary Simon’s decision specifically mandates that if a ballot does not have a postmark, then “the election official reviewing the ballot should presume that it was mailed on or before Election Day.” The Republican lawsuit warns that such a disastrous decision could so heavily impact the election that Minnesota’s results could be rejected entirely, negating the state’s 10 electoral votes due to the possibility of widespread fraud, voter disenfranchisement, and disputed results.
Minnesota is the latest crucial battleground state to have such a controversial decision made to increase its leniency towards voting-by-mail. In Pennsylvania, the State Supreme Court ruled that ballots can be counted up to three days after Election Day. In Michigan, a single federal judge not only extended the counting deadline by two weeks, but also legalized the highly illegal practice of “ballot-harvesting.” And in Wisconsin, a far-left judge gave the state an additional six days to count “late” ballots after Election Day. All four states, located in the Rust Belt, are considered crucial to President Donald Trump’s chances of re-election this November.