Washington:
A United States Supreme Court judge on Friday denied a request by Pennsylvania Republicans to immediately halt the counting of ballots that arrived after Election Day, referring the challenge to the full court for decision on Saturday. .
Meanwhile, Samuel Alito ordered Pennsylvania to continue to keep late-arriving ballots separate, affirming a decision already made by the state’s top election official.
The latest petition for an emergency injunction, filed when Democrat Joe Biden solidified his leadership and was poised to defeat President Donald Trump, targeted thousands of ballots.
The majority is believed to favor Biden, and Republicans say they should be disqualified under Pennsylvania state law.
As a first step, the party wanted the high court to order that ballots arriving after 8:00 pm on election night be kept separate from others and prevent them from counting.
The concern is that if they get mixed up with other ballots, it would make any attempt to disqualify them impossible.
“Given the results of the general election on November 3, 2020, the vote in Pennsylvania may well determine the next president of the United States,” Republicans said.
“It is unclear whether the 67 county boards of elections are segregating late ballots,” the petition added.
Republicans have been fighting for months against a state decision to accept mail-in ballots postmarked Nov. 3 and arriving on Friday. Previously, the deadline for acceptance was the same day as the election.
The state supreme court ruled the decision was legal and was later appealed in the federal system.
On October 19, the United States Supreme Court, which had a vacant seat, let the state court decision stand in a 4 to 4 split decision along conservative-liberal lines.
But the higher court indicated it could take the case after the election, and it now has nine members after Trump-nominated Conservative Amy Coney Barrett joined in late October.
Trump has explicitly said that he wanted Barrett in court for any election-related case.
Friday’s petition seemed more broadly aimed at delaying the completion of the eastern state’s vote count, which would effectively hand the election over to Biden.
A delay could give the superior court time to reopen the larger case on the legality of late ballots.
Even if the court issues a count suspension, there may not be a difference. Election analysts say the number of late votes could be far less than Biden’s lead over Trump in the state.
.
