The Supreme Court rejected Republicans’ request to block Pennsylvania officials from counting provisional ballots by voters whose mail ballots are rejected for technical flaws.
The high court order follows Wednesday’s order permitting a GOP-backed purge of Virginia voter rolls ahead of Election Day. The Virginia order was entered over dissent from the court’s three Democratic appointees.
In the Pennsylvania case, the state Supreme Court split 4-3 in upholding a lower court ruling that required the counting of provisional ballots submitted by voters who are told their mail ballots can’t be counted. “Provisional ballots exist as a failsafe to preserve access to the right to vote,” the state court said, noting that such ballots can only be counted if no other ballots from a voter are counted.
“The General Assembly wrote the Election Code with the purpose of enabling citizens to exercise their right to vote, not for the purpose of creating obstacles to voting,” the state court majority said.
A key swing state, Pennsylvania was decided by about 80,000 votes in Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over Donald Trump and by about 44,000 votes in Trump’s 2016 win over Hillary Clinton. The 2024 race between Trump and Kamala Harris is also expected to be close.