Washington, United States

Less than a week before the US elections, the state of Minnesota has decided not to bring in emergency intervention from the Supreme Court over an appeals ruling that questions legality of their decision to allow mail-in ballots which will be received after election day.

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A ruling was issued in the state of Minnesota, which will not be considered as the final word of litigation yet, that states that the mail-in ballots received after the Election day, which is November 03, will have to be separated from the ones received before and on the day of the election. It states that the ruling by the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals — which was seen in favour of Republicans — that stated all the ballots received after the Election day should not be counted is unlawful.

"While Minnesota will comply with the 8th Circuit`s ruling to segregate the ballots received after November 3, we need to emphasize that there is no court ruling yet saying those ballots are invalid," said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat.

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"We absolutely reserve the right to make every argument after Election Day that protects voters," he added.

Simon also urged people to deliver their mail-in ballot directly to the country election offices or bote in person instead of mailing in the envelope. As per the state law, the residents are supposed to deliver their mail-in ballots by the November 93. This rule, however, was changed a bit and the deadline was extended through a settlement reached with a citizens group that sued earlier this year. The settlement states that election officials can count mail-in ballot until November 10, but they have to be postmarked by November 03.

The current President and Republican candidate Donald Trump has also warned about potential fraud and vote manipulation in the process of mail-in ballots. He also stated that there is no guarantee the election results will be available soon and can see a delay to the same. However, his statements were met with harsh criticism from his Democratic rival and former Vice President Joe Biden.