⁍ Republicans scored a significant victory on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court held that officials in the battleground state of Wisconsin cannot count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day.

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⁍ The Democratic National Committee has also notched important wins, including an extension in counting mail-in ballots in another battleground state, Pennsylvania.

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⁍ Americans, fearing the coronavirus, are expected to vote by mail in record numbers.

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– With less than two weeks to go until Election Day, the Supreme Court has decided that voters in Wisconsin can’t have their mail-in ballots counted after Nov. 3. In a 5-3 decision on Monday, the court left in place a lower court ruling that said state officials couldn’t count ballots that arrive after Election Day, the AP reports. Democrats had argued that a surge in mail-in ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic would protect the right to vote. The court’s decision was issued just before the Senate voted to confirm Donald Trump’s nominee to fill a vacancy on the bench, Amy Barrett. Justice Elena Kagan dissented, saying that the majority’s decision would ‘disenfranchise large numbers of responsible voters in the midst of hazardous pandemic conditions.’ Wisconsin is crucial to Trump’s re-election chances against Joe Biden. Reuters notes that the high court’s decision came just before the Senate voted to confirm Trump’s nominee to fill a vacancy on the bench, Amy Barrett.