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An evenly split Supreme Court ruling on Monday allows Pennsylvania to count voters’ mail-in ballots received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in the ruling, while conservative justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas all noted they would have granted the Republican request for a stay on the decision by the state supreme court last month. The 4-4 deadlock lets the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling stand, The Guardian reported.
Coming just two weeks ahead of one of the most consequential presidential elections in the history of the U.S., the ruling means thousands more votes are likely to be counted in one of the most critical swing states in the country.
It’s a big win for Pennsylvania Democrats, who had sought to extend the absentee ballot receipt deadline citing postal service delivery delays amid the coronavirus pandemic that could result in ballots not reaching election officials as quickly as they have in the past, Politico reported. Pennsylvania typically requires mail-in ballots to arrive by election night in order to count.
And it’s a loss for state Republicans, who had sought the high court’s intervention in their effort to block the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling last month that allowed the change.
In addition to granting the extension for receiving ballots, the state court directed election officials to count ballots that arrive without postmarks or with illegible postmarks, according to court documents.
In their emergency application to the Supreme Court for intervention, Republican leaders in the state legislature Sen. Joseph Scarnati III and Sen. Jake Corman alleged that the state supreme court’s decision to approve a mail-in ballot extension violates state law and the U.S. Constitution. They claimed the changes will serve to “[sow] chaos into the electoral process mere weeks before the already intricate” general election and that the extension amounts to “an open invitation to voters to cast their ballots after Election Day.”
“In a year where there is a very real possibility that the final presidential election result hinges on Pennsylvania, the new rules imposed by the decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (a body elected in partisan elections) could destroy the American public’s confidence in the electoral system as a whole,” the Republican legislators alleged in their plea to the high court.
Responding to the Supreme Court ruling on Monday, Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman Lawrence Tabas said the “disappointing decision” underscores the importance of having a full court “as soon as possible,” Fox News reported.
The Supreme Court could get its newest member as early as next week if U.S. Senate Republicans confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the seat vacated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died last month.
In that situation, Barrett would be officially added to the court about a week ahead of Election Day. Democrats in the Senate have called on Barrett to recuse herself from any election-related litigation that might come before the Supreme Court.
Tabas hinted that once Barrett is added to the court, state officials might try to pursue further legal action to overturn the ruling.
“To be clear, the Supreme Court decided not to grant a stay — which does not mean the actions of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would withstand a legal challenge to their Judicial overreach should the Court hear the case,” Tabas said, according to Fox.
Are you a Pennsylvania resident who plans to vote in the upcoming election? Let us know your thoughts on this decision in the comments below.
The Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballot Extension Lawsuits are Joseph Scarnati III, et al., v. Pennsylvania Democratic Party, et al., Case No. 20A53, and Pennsylvania Democratic Party, et al. v. Kathy Boockvar, et al., Case No. 20A54, both in the U.S. Supreme Court.
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