(MADISON, WI) — Following widespread reports of absentee ballots being returned to election officials by the USPS with either no postmarks, illegible postmarks, or postmarks without dates, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s legal counsel has sent a letter to the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) with suggested guidance on how best to count such ballots.  This guidance is in accord with WEC staff’s guidance and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Republican National Committee v. Democratic National Committee which, in creating a brand-new postmark requirement, emphasized the importance of counting ballots that were voted on or before election day.

The letter urges clerks to 1) count ballots that arrived on April 8 without a postmark, 2) assume ballots received on April 9 to have been mailed on time unless proven otherwise, and 3) count ballots received on April 10 or later if there’s reason to believe they were mailed on time.

You can read the entire letter here.

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