The Wisconsin Supreme Court has declined to take a case that would have provided elections officials in two Fox Valley counties with guidance, on how to deal with misprinted ballots. That could mean delays in knowing who win’s the presidential election in Wisconsin, as well as down ticket races in the region.

Clerks in Outagamie and Calumet wanted to be allowed to mark some 13,000 ballots with small “timing mark” errors, enabling them to be run through automatic counting machines.

The court’s decision not to accept the case – with the four conservatives declining and the three liberals saying they should have – means clerks won’t have that option.

The clerks could now file with a lower court. With no guarantee of a ruling before Election Day, they might have to either “re-make” the 13,000 ballots or count every single ballot in both counties by hand.

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