GOP Files Emergency Appeal with SCOTUS Over Late Arriving Ballots

Bronson Stocking | November 06, 2020 6:20 PM

The Trump campaign has filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court over late-arriving ballots being counted in Pennsylvania.

In October, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a three-day extension for mail-in ballot counting. The decision was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 4-4 ruling, a vote shy of the five votes needed to grant a stay. The tied ruling also came just days before Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the bench. The writ filed Friday now asks the court to block state election officials from taking any action on mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

(Via The New York Post)

Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State has ordered that late-arriving ballots be segregated until further notice, but Republicans claim there is no way to know whether all 67 county boards of elections were doing so.
“In short, an order from the Court is badly needed,” the suit read.
“Thus, to date, a total of 25 Pennsylvania county boards of elections have not indicated whether they are segregating the late-arriving ballots,” it went on.
“If county election boards count and do not segregate late-arriving ballots, it could become impossible for this Court to repair election results tainted by illegally and untimely cast or mailed ballots.”
Republicans and the president’s re-election campaign are preparing to mount an enormous legal effort to fight vote counts in various swing states where Biden is narrowly ahead.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in October allows ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3 or in cases where the postmark isn't legible. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has also ruled that mail-in ballots cannot be thrown out when the signature on the ballot clearly doesn't match the signature on the voter's application.