Pennsylvania Supreme Court extends state's mail ballot deadline
September 17, 2020
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court extended the due date for mail ballots in the November election, a decision that will likely result in more votes being counted in the state — and more time to determine the final results.
Mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania have previously been due by the time polls close on Election Day. But the court's order adds a three-day extension to receive ballots that are postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots with a preelection postmark will now be counted as long as they are received by 5 p.m. on Nov. 6, three days after the polls close.
The court also wrote that ballots "received within this period that lack a postmark or other proof of mailing, or for which the postmark or other proof of mailing is illegible, will be presumed to have been mailed by Election Day unless a preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that it was mailed after Election Day."
The state Democratic Party sued to have the deadline pushed back, and the ruling is a major victory for them in a crucial presidential swing state. In a previous court filing, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, also asked for the deadline to be extended, citing concerns over delivery times involving the United States Postal Service. Republicans opposed the suit.
The court's ruling, also declared that ballot drop boxes are legal within the state. President Donald Trump's campaign had sued in federal court to block drop boxes, and a federal judge put the case on hold while state courts consider the issue. The court also ruled that the state's residency requirement for poll watchers was constitutional. (The rule requires that election observers watch only in the county where they are registered to vote.)
In Pennsylvania and across the country, election officials are preparing for a massive influx of mail ballots from voters seeking alternate ways of casting ballots during the coronavirus pandemic. Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states where election officials cannot begin processing and tallying mail ballots until Election Day, according to a POLITICO review of election rules in 13 swing states. That makes it likely that voting results in Pennsylvania released on the night of the election will not be conclusive.
Lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf are scrambling to make changes, but it is unclear if a compromise will ultimately be reached.
In a separate decision also issued on Thursday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied pleas to allow for third parties to deliver absentee ballots in the state. The practice, cheered by Democrats as "community collection" and derided as "ballot harvesting" by Republicans, remains illegal in the Keystone State.
Also on Thursday, the state Supreme Court booted the Green Party presidential ticket off of the ballot for not fulfilling technical requirements and lifted a stay that was preventing counties in the state from finalizing the design of ballots and printing them.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
