UPDATE: The Wisconsin Supreme Court today ruled in a decision favorable to President Donald Trump’s campaign that “indefinitely confined” voters, as defined by their own designation, is illegal under state law. The court ruled that any voters found to have done so illegally must have their votes thrown out. From The Election Wizard:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Mark Jefferson and the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
The opinion, which was released this morning, says local election officials were wrong to suggest that voters could claim the status of “indefinitely confined” based on COVID-19. The majority decision also held that if voters falsely claimed they were indefinitely confined “their ballots would not count.”
But the court noted that a determination must be make in every case before tossing a ballot.
In a separate suit, President Trump has sought seek to invalidate all votes cast under the special status. In a second ruling released today, the court said the President was in error to ask that all ballots cast under the special status be tossed.
Under Wisconsin law, a voter may receive a ballot by mail and bypass Wisconsin’s voter ID law, if the voter, by his own determination, concludes he “confined” based on age, physical illness, or infirmity. This fall, roughly 215,000 voters in Wisconsin said they were indefinitely confined, nearly a four-fold increase from the 2016 election.
The court said the government’s interpretation of Wisconsin’s indefinitely confined was erroneous.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: (Headline USA) The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s lawsuit attempting to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the battleground state, ending Trump’s legal challenges in state court about an hour before the Electoral College was to meet to cast the state’s 10 votes for Biden.
The court held arguments in the case Saturday, the same day a federal judge dismissed another Trump lawsuit seeking to overturn his loss in Wisconsin. Trump appealed that ruling.
The president sought to have more than 221,000 ballots disqualified in Dane and Milwaukee counties, the state’s two most heavily Democratic counties. In a 4-3 ruling, Justice Brian Hagedorn, a justice supported by conservatives who joined liberal colleagues to form the majority opinion, said the Trump campaign was “not entitled to the relief it seeks.”
Hagedorn used a sports analogy when ruling against Trump, saying he waited too long to raise his complaints.
“Our laws allow the challenge flag to be thrown regarding various aspects of election administration,” Hagedorn wrote. “The challenges raised by the Campaign in this case, however, come long after the last play or even the last game; the Campaign is challenging the rulebook adopted before the season began.”
Trump wanted to disqualify absentee ballots cast early and in-person, saying there wasn’t a proper written request made for the ballots; absentee ballots cast by people who claimed “indefinitely confined” status; absentee ballots collected by poll workers at Madison parks; and absentee ballots where clerks filled in missing information on ballot envelopes.
The court ruled that Trump’s challenge to voters who were indefinitely confined was without merit and that the other claims came too late.
However, one of Biden’s electors in the state lied about being “indefinitely confined” in order to obtain a mail-in ballot and avoid the voter ID law, according to Gateway Pundit:
One of Joe Biden’s Wisconsin electors falsely claimed she was “indefinitely confined” to her home leading up to Election Day, but pictures on her social media show her out and about campaigning.
Wisconsin Democrat state senator Patricia Schachtner will cast one of her state’s 10 electoral votes for Joe Biden on Monday.
Schachtner claimed to the Wisconsin Elections Commission in a signed statement that she was “indefinitely confined” to her home due to Covid and therefore needed a mail-in ballot.
Schachtner posted Facebook photos of her and her husband (who also claimed to be indefinitely confined) outside enjoying themselves.
Schachtner was seen out and about campaigning with treasurer Sarah Godlewski in October.
(See the social media images of Schachtner at Gateway Pundit)
Liberal justices Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky, who sided with Hagedorn, wrote separately to emphasize that there was no evidence of fraud in Wisconsin’s election.
“Wisconsin voters complied with the election rulebook,” Dallet and Karofksy said. “No penalties were committed and the final score was the result of a free and fair election.”
Karofsky blasted Trump’s case during Saturday’s hearing, saying it “smacks of racism” and was “un-American.” Conservative justices voiced some concerns about how certain ballots were cast, while also questioning whether they could or should disqualify votes only in two counties.
Biden won Wisconsin by about 20,600 votes, a margin of 0.6% that withstood a Trump-requested recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties, the two with the most Democratic votes. Trump did not challenge any ballots cast in the counties he won.
Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.
