Updated at 5:04 p.m. CT

A federal judge said Wednesday that he won't rule before the election on a lawsuit that challenged a state law requiring college student IDs to have an expiration date in order for them to be used as a voter's ID.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison lifted quarantine orders for two of its largest dorms on Wednesday, on a day when the state added 56 hospitalizations from COVID-19 complications to its record total.

In the first easing of restrictions that were put into place two weeks ago when cases of the coronavirus spiked on campus, the university also announced plans to phase in some in-person classes. Wisconsin ranks third in the country in the number of cases per capita in the last two weeks, according to data compiled Tuesday by The COVID Tracking project.

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature on Wednesday appealed a federal court ruling that allows for absentee ballots to be counted up to six days after the Nov. 3 presidential election in the battleground state.

The appeal was expected after Monday's highly anticipated court ruling in favor of Democrats and their allies. The judge even put his ruling on hold for seven days in anticipation of a quick appeal.

Four people filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday demanding that Facebook prevent militias and hate groups from using the site, after a militia group used the platform to draw armed people to protests in Wisconsin last month that left two people dead.

Chicago officials Tuesday told visitors from Wisconsin for the second time that they must remain in quarantine for two weeks if they visit the city.

The order set to take effect Friday comes as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declared a “new public health emergency” because of a spike in coronavirus cases in that state and extended a statewide mask mandate there until Nov. 21.