Associated Press
Republicans on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency order in Pennsylvania that could result in thousands of votes not being counted in this year’s election in the battleground state.
Just over a week before the election, the court is being asked to step into a dispute over provisional ballots cast by Pennsylvania voters whose mail ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures in state law.
The state’s high court ruled 4-3 that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were voided because they arrived without mandatory secrecy envelopes.
The election fight arrived at the Supreme Court the same day Virginia sought the Justices’ intervention in a dispute over purging voter registrations.
Four years ago, the high court weighed in on pandemic-inspired changes in voting rules in several states, including Pennsylvania.
In their high-court filing, state and national Republicans asked for an order putting the state court ruling on hold or, barring that, requiring the provisional ballots be segregated and not included in the official vote count while the legal fight plays out.
They argued that the Legislature did not provide for giving voters a do-over if they make mistakes on ballots they put in the mail.
Secrecy envelopes keep ballots concealed as elections workers open the stamped outer envelopes used to mail the whole packets back. Voters also must sign and date the exterior envelopes. Pennsylvania voters have so far applied for 2 million mail ballots.
Two voters in western Pennsylvania’s Butler County sued after the local board of elections rejected the provisional votes they cast once they were informed of problems with the ballots they had mailed.
A county Judge had upheld the election officials’ decisions.
Mail-in ballot rules in Pennsylvania changed drastically under a 2019 law, widely expanding their use and producing a series of lawsuits.
Most counties — but not all — help inform voters in advance of Election Day that their mail-in ballot will be rejected, giving them the opportunity to cast a provisional ballot at their polling place, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
4 comments
Michael K
October 28, 2024 at 5:51 pm
Why do Republicans do everything they can to stop people from voting? Florida also has those “secrecy envelopes,” but they will not reject a ballot if you don’t use it. It’s ridiculous to disenfranchise voters over a meaningless technicality. I also read that because of high humidity, some return envelopes in Pennsylvania are stuck together.
SThe “non-citizen” voting issue is another sham – there is no “non-citizen” voter fraud.
The only way Republicans can hope to win is through lying and cheating.
I Am Speaking.
October 28, 2024 at 7:50 pm
Hanging Chad Part 2. Brought to you by the Democrat Supervisor of elections Palm Beach County. Then we have Myriam Oliphant, and Brenda Snipes standing by if you need further incompetent Democrat election officials to help.
Mine your own business
October 28, 2024 at 6:03 pm
Nothing more than election interference. Florida…stay the heck out of Pa. business. Mine your own business. All you are trying to do is stir chaos once again to lie, cheat and steal to set up the orange man .
Dont Say FLA
October 29, 2024 at 7:12 am
The GOP knows that wherever people vote both legally and freely, the GOP loses. And then anywhere the GOP does actually win, they go into overdrive on convincing the voters in those places of how free they are. See “Free State of Florida” LOLS