News/Commentary

Major blow to GOP: SCOTUS upholds provisional ballot ruling in battleground state

November 2, 2024 | | Print Article

The Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by the GOP to block improperly completed provisional ballots in Pennsylvania from being counted.

Last week, the Republican National Committee and the Pennsylvania Republican Party filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court requesting it impose a temporary injunction on a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling from the week prior.

“Pennsylvania’s supreme court ruled [on Oct. 23rd that] citizens have a right to vote by provisional ballot if their mail-in ballot is disqualified for a failure to return it in the required secrecy envelope,” as reported by State Court Report.

“Counting Electors’ provisional ballots, when their mail ballots are void for failing to use a Secrecy Envelope, is a statutory right,” Justice Christine Donohue wrote for the majority.

Republicans argued that if a provisional ballot isn’t properly stuffed into the secrecy envelope, then the ballot shouldn’t count. The federal Supreme Court didn’t necessarily disagree with this assertion.

“In a brief statement attached to the court’s order, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote that the case was ‘a matter of considerable importance,'” according to The New York Times. “But he said the justices had no way to give the Republicans what they were asking for — a statewide block on allowing these provisional ballots.”

“Only Butler County elections officials were parties to the case, he wrote, which meant the justices could not force elections officials in other counties to block those ballots. He was joined by two other conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch,” the Times’ reporting continues.

Democrats celebrated the ruling.

“In Pennsylvania and across the country, Trump and his allies are trying to make it harder for your vote to count, but our institutions are stronger than his shameful attacks,” Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said in a statement.

“Today’s decision confirms that for every eligible voter, the right to vote means the right to have your vote counted,” the statement continued.

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The RNC said it was “disappointed” in the ruling.

Conservatives on social media, meanwhile, worried that the ruling might make it even easier for voter fraud to be committed.

Look:

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Despite this setback, there has been some good news. On October 25th, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Mississippi mail-in ballots that arrive past Election Day can’t be counted.

In its decision, the 5th Circuit quoted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

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“As Justice Kavanaugh recently emphasized: ‘To state the obvious, a State cannot conduct an election without deadlines … A deadline is not unconstitutional merely because of voters’ own failures to take timely steps to ensure their franchise,'” the appeals court ruled.

“Federal law requires voters to take timely steps to vote by Election Day. And federal law does not permit the State of Mississippi to extend the period for voting by one day, five days, or 100 days,” their ruling continued.

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Vivek Saxena
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