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Supreme Court says no late mail ballots in Wisconsin

In another major blow to Democrats, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that mail-in ballots in Wisconsin can only be counted if they're received by Election Day.

The state is crucial to President Donald Trump's re-election chances against Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

And the order was issued just before the Senate voted to confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, cementing a conservative majority for potentially years to come.

A group of Wisconsin voters and disability rights groups, joined by state and national Democrats, had sued the state's legislature to get the mail-in ballot deadline extended in light of postal delays amid the global health crisis.

But siding with the Republican-led legislature, the court's conservative majority decided to leave in place an earlier ruling preventing officials from counting ballots that arrive as late as six days after the election.

Mail-in voting has surged this year as Americans seek to avoid crowds at polling places, even as Trump repeatedly claimed without evidence that it leads to voter fraud.

Experts say that is exceedingly rare.

Other election cases are pending, which new appointee Barrett may cast crucial votes in.

Just last week, the court split 4-4 in a case allowing the deadline for mail-in absentee ballots to be extended in Pennsylvania.