President Trump scored a victory in Pennsylvania, where a court ruled that a portion of mail-in ballots from voters who had failed to provide ID by Nov. 9 should not be counted.
The two-page order issued Thursday by an appellate judge ruled in favor of the Trump campaign’s case to discount ballots from voters who bypassed the deadline for confirming their identification. First time voters in the state are required to show proof of identification, which people typically do at the polls. New voters who cast their ballot by mail were asked to follow up separately with county officials to show ID.
While ballots were required to be submitted by Election Day, state law gives until Nov. 9 to present ID.
Citing a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that gave a three-day extension to Nov. 12 for late-arriving ballots, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, issued guidance to county officials stating that the ID deadline could likewise be delayed by three days. Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt of Commonwealth Court said that Boockvar, who oversees the state’s elections, did not have the authority to do so, saying that the secretary of state “lacked the statutory authority” and ruling that election officials are “enjoined from counting any ballots that have been segregated” related to this ID guidance.
Pennsylvania Republicans and the Trump campaign have been trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a similar case in which Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court said in a 4-3 ruling earlier this year that mail-in ballots could be counted so long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day and were received within three days, likening the coronavirus pandemic to a “natural disaster” that justified the extensions.
Pennsylvania’s Act 77, passed by the Pennsylvania state legislature, allowed its voters to cast their ballots by mail but required that all mailed ballots be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in a Friday night ruling ordered all of the county election boards in Pennsylvania to separate all late-arrival ballots from the rest of the mail-in ballots.
Republicans and Trump campaign officials have filed a range of lawsuits to challenge the integrity of the election results in crucial states in a last-ditch bid to retain the presidential office.
