RNC Asks Supreme Court To Intervene In Pennsylvania Provisional Ballot Fight

The Republican National Committee on Monday asked the Supreme Court to block a ruling in Pennsylvania that said provisional ballots should be counted for voters who submit their mail-in ballot incorrectly.

The appeal from the RNC comes after a 4-3 decision last week from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that ruled that election officials must count the provisional ballots of voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected because they did not follow legal guidance for the ballot. The RNC argues that Pennsylvania law does not list mail-in ballot error as a legitimate reason for allowing provisional ballots. 

“Weeks after mail voting began in Pennsylvania — and less than two weeks before Election Day — a sharply divided 4-3 Pennsylvania Supreme Court departed from the plain terms of the Election Code to dramatically change the rules governing mail voting,” the legal filing from the RNC said. “It did so in the midst of the ongoing General Election in which millions of Pennsylvanians have already cast ballots for President, U.S. Senate, Congress, and scores of state and local offices.”

The order from the state Supreme Court said that provisional ballots must be counted for individuals whose mail-in ballots were rejected for a mistake such as a no signature, date, or secrecy envelope. Lawyers for the RNC say that Pennsylvania law stipulates that casting an invalid mail-in ballot is not an excuse for provisional voting. 

“When the legislature says that certain ballots can never be counted, a state court cannot blue-pencil that clear command into always. And here, the General Assembly could not have been clearer,” the lawyers wrote. “This case is of paramount public importance, potentially affecting tens of thousands of votes in a State which many anticipate could be decisive in control of the U.S. Senate or even the 2024 Presidential Election.”

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The RNC said that the Supreme Court should at least order provisional ballots received from individuals with invalidated mail-in ballots to be separated from the official count during ongoing litigation. 

The controversy in Pennsylvania began after the Court of Common Pleas sided with the Butler County Board of Elections’ decision not to count the provisional ballots of several voters who had their mail-in ballots rejected during the primary election earlier this year. 

The Supreme Court was also asked on Monday to intervene in Virginia, where a judge has ordered the commonwealth to put non-citizens back onto its voter rolls after the Biden administration sued.