MARSHALL — An appeals court ruling late last week meant a major change in the deadline for absentee ballots to be accepted in Minnesota. Lyon County Auditor/Treasurer E.J. Moberg said the county will be keeping ballots that arrive after Nov. 3, but it’s still not certain whether they will be counted.

As of Wednesday morning, Moberg said the county had received three absentee ballots that didn’t arrive before Election Day. Originally, Minnesota voters had been told their absentee ballots would be accepted until Nov. 10, as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3 or earlier.

However, on Oct. 29, a ruling from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said absentee ballots had to arrive by Election Day in order to be counted. The ruling said late-arriving ballots would need to be held separately in case future court action makes them invalid.

Moberg said for now Lyon County will be holding on to late-arriving ballots but not processing them, and waiting for further direction as to whether they will be counted.

“I am hoping for some kind of clarification,” from the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office, Moberg said. Depending on what court action is taken in the future, it might be possible that the absentee ballots could be counted in the U.S. presidential election, he said.