SCOTUSblog by Amy Howe 11/6/2020
Pennsylvania Republicans seek Supreme Court order to keep later-arriving ballots separate and uncounted (updated)
Claiming that it “is currently unclear whether all 67 county boards of elections†in Pennsylvania are following instructions to segregate mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, Republicans on Friday asked the Supreme Court to order election boards to keep those ballots separate and to refrain from counting them while the Republicans’ legal challenge to those ballots remains pending. The request was the latest development in the battle for Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral college votes, but it came after Democrat Joe Biden had pulled ahead in the vote count in the state. And news reports suggested that the number of ballots received after Election Day might not ultimately be enough to affect the outcome in Pennsylvania.
The 11-page filing came in the challenge by Pennsylvania Republicans and Pennsylvania legislators to a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that requires the state to count any ballots received by Friday, Nov. 6, unless they are postmarked after Election Day or there is other strong evidence that they were mailed after Election Day. The Pennsylvania Republicans and legislators had asked the justices to put that ruling on hold and, later, to fast-track their consideration of a petition for review of the state supreme court’s decision.
The justices turned both requests down. In a statement regarding the justices’ denial of the motion to expedite consideration of the petition for review, Justice Samuel Alito stressed that the court could still consider the petition “under a shortened schedule†if granted after the election. He also noted that the state had directed county election boards to keep the ballots that arrived after the Election Day and before the Nov. 6 deadline separate, so that a “targeted remedy†would be available if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision were “ultimately overturned.â€
More:
https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/11/pennsylvania-republicans-seek-supreme-court-order-to-keep-later-arriving-ballots-separate-and-uncounted/
