Romney campaign files lawsuit to extend deadline for absentee ballots

Talk about it

Mitt Romney’s Republican presidential campaign has filed a federal lawsuit in Madison. It wants Wisconsin to extend its deadline for military and overseas voters to return their absentee ballots.

State officials said 44 ballots were sent up to five days after a deadline of Sept. 22.

The Romney camp had asked the Government Accountability Board to extend the deadline. The board said no, so Romney’s people are asking a judge to count overseas ballots that are returned to local clerks by Nov. 14 instead of the current deadline of Nov. 9.

The board has not commented on the lawsuit, which was filed last Friday. Board spokesman Reid Magney said last month that any delays in sending the ballots was relatively short. He said local clerks were more successful in following the overseas ballot laws than in the past.

Wisconsin is not the only place where the Romney camp is bringing up the issue. It filed similar complaints with state election officials in Michigan, Mississippi and Vermont.

Tags: news, government, politics