Minnesota absentee ballots received after 8 p.m. on Election Day may be set aside according to a ruling on Thursday by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, setting up a potential post-election legal battle.
The judges ruled 2-1, siding with a GOP challenge to Minnesota's extended deadline for receiving absentee ballots after Election Day. The order did not rule on the validity of the ballots received after November 3, but does challenge the State's rule of counting absentee ballots received up until November 10.
"There will be more time later for expressions of disappointment," Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said. "For now, our focus has to be very clear and that's on the voters of Minnesota. We have to make sure every legally cast ballot is counted."
Simon instructed voters who have not sent-in their absentee ballots to no longer place them in the mail. Instead, voters should deliver their ballots by hand to their county election offices or vote in person on Election Day.
In Thursday's ruling, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals judges wrote that state and federal law supersedes the state court-approved one-week extension approved earlier this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Friday morning, 1,581,193 absentee ballots had been accepted out of the 1,969,728 applications submitted to the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office.
