The court's 5-3 ruling means that absentee ballots will be counted only if they are in the hands of municipal clerks by the time polls close on Nov. 3.
The justices determined the courts shouldn't be the ones to decide the election rules amid the coronavirus pandemic that is surging in Wisconsin and across the world.
"The Constitution provides that state legislatures — not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion.
What does "in the hands of" mean? Present in a building, present within 10 feet, or actually in the clerk's hand?
Well the clerk can’t literally hold every single ballot that comes into their office. I would imagine it means the ballot is physically present in the location designated by the clerk for counting or delivered to the clerks office for transport to said location. But you do bring up a good point, which is that the ruling should have been more specific