Supreme Court rules Pennsylvania may count back-up votes when mail ballots are rejected

4

The US Supreme Court on Friday left in place a Pennsylvania court ruling that is expected to expand options for voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected for technical reasons to have their votes counted, in a defeat for Republicans in a critical battleground state.

There were no noted dissents.

For Pennsylvania voters who made a mistake in how they prepared their mail-in ballots, it could ensure they have a backup option to have a provisional ballot counted.

It’s unclear how many Pennsylvania voters will benefit because not every county notifies voters of defective mail ballots. But both sides in the appeal before the Supreme Court characterized the dispute as affecting potentially “thousands” of votes at a minimum.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote a brief statement – which was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch – essentially arguing that the court couldn’t give the Republicans who brought the appeal what they wanted even if it wanted to.

The case, Alito wrote, “is a matter of considerable importance.” But, he wrote, “even if we agreed with the applicants’ federal constitutional argument (a question on which I express no view at this time), we could not prevent the consequences they fear.”

This story is breaking and will be updated.