DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) – The Supreme Court ruled Friday that thousands of provisional ballots may not be counted in Pennsylvania, the nation’s largest battleground and where the presidential race is being contested in the final days before the election. rejected an emergency appeal from a Republican. state.
The justices left in place a state Supreme Court ruling that election officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected.
The ruling is a victory for voting rights advocates who had sought to force counties, primarily Republican-controlled counties, to allow voters to cast provisional ballots on Election Day if their mail-in ballots were rejected for minor errors. . .
Read more: What to expect in Pennsylvania on Election Day
While the Supreme Court case was a setback for Republicans, the party claimed a separate victory in a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling. The court rejected a last-ditch effort by voting rights groups to allow mail-in ballots that did not have an accurate handwritten date on the outer envelope to be counted in this year’s presidential election.
The ruling is the latest in four years of litigation over mail-in voting in Pennsylvania, where every vote really matters in the presidential election. Republicans have pushed in dozens of court cases for the strictest possible interpretation of mail-in voting, which is dominated by Democrats.
Taken together, Friday’s near-simultaneous rulings will focus on helping thousands of people provisionally vote on Election Day if their mail-in ballots are rejected, potentially leading to more lawsuits. There is also gender.
As of Thursday, about 9,000 of the more than 1.6 million ballots returned were left at election offices around Pennsylvania without secrecy envelopes, signatures or handwritten dates, according to state records. It has arrived at the place.
With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is the most battleground state in this year’s presidential election and is expected to play a major role in deciding the election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris. There is.
Both elections in 2016, won by Trump, and 2020, won by Democrat Joe Biden, were decided by tens of thousands of votes.
A Pennsylvania voting rights lawyer who helped bring both cases said that in a close presidential election, it would be unlikely that another lawsuit over undated ballots would be brought to the state Supreme Court within days of the presidential election. He said it was almost certain.
“It’s almost certain that this issue will come up again after the election, especially if it’s a close election,” Witold Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said in an interview.
In an unsigned two-page order, the state Supreme Court stayed a lower court ruling requiring counties to count ballots. The high court said the case does not apply to the presidential election to be decided next week, but indicated the case could be decided at a later date.
The ruling came as voters in Flagfield County, a suburb of Philadelphia, had their last chance to apply for a mail-in ballot on Friday, but counties across the state are giving voters who did not receive their ballots by mail one more time. They were given a chance to receive their ballots.
A judge in Erie County, in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania, said Friday that in a lawsuit brought by Democrats, about 15,000 people who applied for mail-in ballots but did not receive them must go to their county elections office and receive a replacement by Monday. The court ruled that it could be obtained. .
The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot has passed in Pennsylvania. But the judge’s ruling means that Erie County’s election office will allow voters to go to the counter every day until Monday to cancel mail-in ballots they didn’t receive in the mail and pick up another mail-in ballot at the store. It means to make.
In Bucks County, a suburb of Philadelphia, a judge has given a three-day extension to a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign accusing the county of violations, ruling out the deadline for voters there to apply for and receive mail-in ballots. was set at 5 p.m. It implemented the law by diverting voters from election offices that were struggling to keep up with demand.
Lines snaked down the sidewalk outside the county elections office in Doylestown all day long, and by Friday afternoon the process had taken about two hours.
Nakesha McGuirk, 44, a Democrat from Bensalem, said as she waited in line. But I’m going to stick with it. ”
Ms McGuirk, a supporter of Ms Harris, is worried about whether she will be able to vote on Election Day due to her long commute next week. “We thought it would be better to get to the polls early this way rather than risk not being able to get to the polls in time,” she said.
Patrick Ronieski, a Republican voter and Trump supporter who lives in Buckingham, also thought it would be more convenient due to his work schedule to vote Friday in a county he called “critically important” to the outcome.
“I just want to make sure I turn in my ballot and make sure it’s counted,” said Ronieski, 62, who voted for the first time with her 18-year-old son.
As 5pm approached, the line thinned out.
As election workers merrily counted down the seconds, the last stragglers scrambled to make it to the deadline. “Let’s go! Hurry! You can do it!” shouted a bystander. People applauded as she walked through the door. It was just in time.
Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report. Levy reported from Harrisburg.
