Thousands of ballots in Pennsylvania are at risk of being excluded from the battleground state’s presidential election count as the Republican Party asks the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a dispute over ballot procedures.
On Monday, eight days before Election Day, the Republican National Committee asked the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily pause a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that requires election workers to count provisional ballots even if a voter’s mail ballot violates mandatory requirements.
In the commonwealth, election officials reject mail-in ballots that technically violate the state’s Election Code, such as if they do not contain a signature, date or secrecy envelope. If a voter’s mail ballot has one of these issues, they can receive a provisional ballot at their voting location on Election Day.
But according to state code, provisional ballots are not to be counted if a mail-in ballot is received timely.
In a 4-3 ruling last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court changed that rule, requiring election officials to count those provisional ballots even if the mail-in ballot lacks the mandatory procedure.
Republicans were angry at the ruling believing it was made too close to Election Day and incorrectly bypassed the state legislature from making election law decisions.
“This holding effectively creates a cure process for mail-ballot errors—a process everyone agrees the General Assembly has deliberately chosen not to create,” Republicans wrote.
The U.S. Supreme Court typically does not involve itself in questions pertaining to state law, unless they violate federal law or the Constitution. But in recent years, conservatives have pushed for the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a ruling that gives state legislatures the power to regulate federal elections rather than.
That fringe legal theory has been widely rejected – even by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nonetheless, the Republican National Committee is pushing the highest court in the land to intervene in the recent Pennsylvania ruling.
The case originates in Butler County where two voters sued their local elections board after they discovered their primary election provisional ballots were excluded due to mail ballot envelope errors.
In Pennsylvania, voters using mail-in ballots are required to seal their ballot in a “secrecy” envelope which is placed inside a “declaration” envelope. That declaration envelope must be signed and dated.
But if the ballot-sorting machine determines the ballot does not contain a secrecy envelope voters are then told they can cast a provisional ballot at their polling location on Election Day.
It’s unclear how many ballots would be affected should the Supreme Court take the case and side with the Republican National Committee though it is likely thousands.
The ultimate outcome of the case holds enormous consequences given Pennsylvania is a key swing state that could determine the winner of the 2024 presidential election. Given how close national polling indicates it is between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the election could be decided by just a few thousand voters.
