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6 

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. 
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE 
GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

stay  applicants,  election-distorting  gamesmanship  might 
occur  if  ballots  could  be  cast  after  initial  results  are  pub-
lished.   But  obviating  that  harm,  the  District  Court  en-
joined the publication of election results before April 13, the 
deadline for returning absentee ballots, and the Wisconsin 
Elections Commission directed election officials not to pub-
lish results before that date.5 

The concerns advanced by the Court and the applicants 
pale in comparison to the risk that tens of thousands of vot-
ers  will  be  disenfranchised.    Ensuring  an  opportunity  for 
the people of Wisconsin to exercise their votes should be our 
paramount concern. 

*

* 

*
The  majority  of  this  Court  declares  that  this  case  pre-
sents  a  “narrow,  technical  question.”  Ante,  at  1.    That  is 
wrong.  The question here is whether tens of thousands of 
Wisconsin  citizens  can  vote  safely  in  the  midst  of  a  pan-
demic.  Under the District Court’s order, they would be able 
to do so.  Even if they receive their absentee ballot in the 
days immediately following election day, they could return 
it.  With the majority’s stay in place, that will not be possi-
ble.  Either they will have to brave the polls, endangering 
their own and others’ safety.  Or they will lose their right to 
vote, through no fault of their own.  That is a matter of ut-
most  importance—to  the  constitutional  rights  of  Wiscon-
sin’s  citizens,  the  integrity  of  the  State’s  election  process, 
and in this most extraordinary time, the health of the Na-
tion. 

—————— 

5 Memorandum  from  M.  Wolfe,  Administrator  of  the  Wiscon-
sin  Elections  Commission,  to  Wisconsin  Municipal  Clerks  et al. 
(Apr. 
https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi. 
gov/files/2020-04/Clerk%20comm%20re.%20court%20decisions%204.3.pdf. 

2020), 

3,