AP:

The Iowa Supreme Court on Tuesday swiftly granted a request from Republican groups to stay a judge’s ruling that blocked enforcement of an order that has been used to invalidate tens of thousands of absentee ballot requests.

The Republican National Committee, President Trump’s campaign and other GOP groups argued in an emergency petition filed Tuesday that Iowa’s election administration could be thrown into “chaos” if the ruling was allowed to stand.

Within hours, Chief Justice Susan Christensen released an order saying the full court had granted their request to put the ruling on hold pending further proceedings. She said the court will consider the merits of the case in the coming days….

Pate, a Republican, said his directive was intended to ensure uniformity in how the applications were mailed statewide. But Hanson found that it would harm the public’s interest in making voting by mail as easy as possible during the coronavirus pandemic, saying it appeared to be designed to limit the option.

Based on the directive, courts have invalidated absentee ballot applications that were mailed to more than 200,000 voters in three counties and that contained their identification information.