02-11-24, 05:51
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Supreme Court REJECTS Republican Bid to BLOCK Provisional Ballots in Pennsylvania
Supreme Court REJECTS Republican Bid to BLOCK Provisional Ballots in Pennsylvania
The supreme court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal from Republicans that could have led to thousands of provisional ballots not being counted in Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reports.
AP 2 NOV 2024
The justices left in place a state supreme court ruling that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected.
The court rejected the Republican Partys emergency request to intervene after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said voters should be able to cast provisional ballots if they failed to encase an absentee ballot in the required secrecy sleeve.
As of Thursday, about 9,000 ballots out of more than 1.6 million returned have arrived at elections offices around Pennsylvania lacking a secrecy envelope, a signature or a date, according to state records.
The high court order follows Wednesdays order permitting a GOP-backed purge of Virginia voter rolls ahead of Election Day. The Virginia order was entered over dissent from the courts 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 cant 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.
In a joint statement, spokespeople for the Democratic Party and Vice President Kamala Harris campaign said Republicans have been trying to make it harder for votes to count in Pennsylvania and across the country.
But the Supreme Courts decision, said Rosemary Boeglin and Michael Tyler, confirms that, for every eligible voter, the right to vote means the right to have your vote counted.
A key swing state, Pennsylvania was decided by about 80,000 votes in Joe Bidens 2020 victory over Donald Trump and by about 44,000 votes in Trumps 2016 win over Hillary Clinton. The 2024 race between Trump and Kamala Harris is also expected to be close.
Pennsylvania is the biggest presidential election battleground this year, with 19 electoral votes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgWYjTO26_k
Trump Campaign Sues Pennsylvania County Over Claim It Is 'Turning Away Voters'...
The campaign is suing Bucks County, Pennsylvania, over claims of voter intimidation and long lines as voters gathered to get mail-in ballots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQfidI1dLM
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