WASHINGTON (SPECTRUM NEWS) — An eleventh-hour decision in Washington, D.C. had Democrats in Wisconsin recoiling about not just the integrity of the state’s Tuesday elections but also the safety of its voters.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s extension of the state’s absentee ballot deadline.

“Under the constitution, the electoral process is basically left to the states,” said Prof. Kimberly Wehle, American University visiting law professor. “And the Supreme Court essentially said, ‘listen, we are going to strike down a lower court’s attempt to get involved in moving the deadlines for mail-in ballots, county mail-in ballots, due to COVID-19. We are not going to let the courts basically issue directives relating to Wisconsin’s election.’”

But Prof. Wehle believes the majority opinion on the ruling did not recognize the extraordinary nature of primaries in the time of coronavirus.

It’s a point Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg pointed out in her dissent.

“The Court’s suggestion that the current situation is not ‘substantially different’ from ‘an ordinary election’ boggles the mind,” wrote Ginsberg.

The justice said while she trusts the majority acted in good faith, Wisconsin voters subsequently had to “brave the polls, endangering their own and others’ safety”  or they will lose their right to vote.

“It could’ve said, ‘listen, the circumstances, the importance of the right to vote, justify allowing this slight amendment to the process to ensure that more votes are counted,’” said Prof. Wehle.

Prof. Wehle says there’s a precedent of the courts siding in favor of public safety, too.

“The court held back in 1905 that there can be mandatory vaccines,” said Prof. Wehle. “And when you think about that, that’s actually putting foreign substance — government mandating that goes into everyone’s body in order to protect the public. Courts said that’s not something that the constitution would stop in the name of public health.’”

Prof. Wehle believes all voters should be concerned about their right to vote.

“The right to vote right now in the 2020 November election is hanging on by a thread,” she said. "It’s absolutely vital that any relief package include money and regulation aimed at insuring that Americans who want to vote can actually cast their votes in a way that’s safe and doesn’t risk their health and their lives and the lives of their families.”​