Supreme Court allows Pennsylvania to count challenged provisional ballots, rejecting Republican plea

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) – The supreme court rejected an emergency call by Republicans on Friday that could have resulted in thousands of provisional ballots not being counted in Pennsylvania as presidential campaigns race in the final days before the election in the nation’s most battleground state.

The justices upheld 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 have tried to force counties — primarily Republican-controlled counties — to allow voters to cast provisional ballots on Election Day if their mail-in ballots were to be rejected for a garden error . .

While the Supreme Court action was a setback for Republicans, the GOP separately claimed victory in a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision. That court rejected a last-ditch effort by voting rights advocates to ensure that mail-in ballots that do not have an exact, handwritten date on the outer envelope will continue to be counted in this year’s presidential election.

The rulings are the latest in four years of litigation over mail-in voting in Pennsylvania, where every vote really counts in presidential races. Republicans have sought in dozens of lawsuits to uphold the strictest possible interpretation of the mail-in ballots, which are overwhelmingly Democratic.

Taken together, Friday’s near-simultaneous rulings will ensure a strong focus on helping thousands of people vote provisionally on Election Day if their mail-in ballots have been rejected — and potentially more litigation.

As of Thursday, about 9,000 of the more than 1.6 million ballots returned had arrived at Pennsylvania election offices without a secret envelope, signature or handwritten date, according to state records.

Pennsylvania is the biggest battleground for this year’s presidential election, with 19 electoral votes, and is expected to play an outsized role in deciding the Republican primary. Donald Trump and democrat Kamala Harris.

It was decided by tens of thousands of votes in 2016, when Trump won it, and again in 2020, when Democrat Joe Biden won it.

A Pennsylvania voting rights attorney who helped bring both cases said it’s almost certain another case involving undated ballots will be back before the state Supreme Court within days of the presidential election, if they i’m close

“It’s almost certain that this will be raised again after the election, especially if it’s a close election,” Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said in an interview.

In its unsigned, two-page order, the state’s highest court stayed a lower court ruling that would have required counties to count the ballots. The High Court said the case would not apply to the presidential election to be decided next week, but held out the possibility that it could rule on the case later.

The rulings came as voters had their last chance on Friday to apply for a the postal ballot in a suburban Philadelphia county, while a statewide free county gave voters who didn’t receive a mail-in ballot another chance to get one.

A judge in Erie County, in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania, ruled Friday in a lawsuit brought by the Democratic Party that about 15,000 people who requested a mail-in ballot but did not receive one, I can go to the election office in the county and get a replacement by Monday. .

The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot has passed in Pennsylvania. But the judge’s ruling means the Erie County elections office will be open every day through Monday for voters to come in, cancel the mail-in ballot they didn’t receive in the mail and get another one at the counter.

In suburban Philadelphia’s Bucks County, a court set a 5 p.m. deadline for voters there to request and receive a mail-in ballot after a judge ordered a three-day extension in response to a Trump campaign lawsuit accusing the county of trespassing. the law by transforming the voters from the electoral offices that had struggled to keep up with demand.

Lines outside the county elections office in Doylestown were long throughout the day — snaking down the sidewalk — with the process lasting about two hours by Friday afternoon.

Nakesha McGuirk, 44, a Democrat from Bensalem, zoomed in on the line and said, “I didn’t expect it to be this long. But I’ll keep it out.”

McGuirk, a Harris supporter, faces a long commute next week and is concerned about her ability to make it to the polls on Election Day. “I thought that rather than risk not getting home in time to go to the polls, it would be better to do it that way early,” she said.

Republican Elector Patrick Lonieski, a Trump supporter from Buckingham, also found it more convenient with his work schedule to vote Friday in a county he called “pivotal” to the outcome.

“I just want to make sure I get the ballot and it’s counted,” said Lonieski, 62, who was joined by his 18-year-old son, who voted for the first time.

The line steadily thinned as 5pm approached.

One last straggler ran to make it to the deadline as poll workers merrily counted the seconds. “Let’s go! Hurry up! You can do it!” shouted a spectator.The crowd burst into applause as she walked through the door – just in time.

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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report. Levy reported from Harrisburg.