Absentee ballots must arrive by Election Day to be counted, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled. The decision blocks a 14-day extension that had been ordered by a lower court in the battleground state.
Michigan’s ability to handle a flood of ballots will be closely watched in a state that was narrowly won by President Donald Trump in 2016. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson last week said 2.7 million people had requested absentee ballots, a result of a change in law that makes them available to any voter.
The appeals court, however, said the pandemic and any delivery woes “are not attributable to the state.” The court also reversed another portion of Stephens’ decision, which would have allowed a non-family member to deliver a completed ballot in the final days before the election if a voter consented.
Benson and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats, had declined to appeal Stephens’ rulings, leaving it to the Republican-controlled Legislature to intervene.
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