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WASHINGTON (AFP) – A United States Supreme Court judge on Friday (November 6) denied a request by Pennsylvania Republicans to immediately halt the counting of ballots that arrive after Election Day, referring the challenge to the court in full to rule 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 as Democrat Joe Biden solidified his leadership and was on the verge of defeating 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 prevented from being counted.
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 not clear whether the 67 county boards of elections are segregating late ballots,” the petition adds. Republicans have been fighting for months against a state decision to accept mail-in ballots postmarked Nov. 3 and arriving on Friday.
The state supreme court ruled that the decision was legal and was later appealed in the federal system to the Supreme Court.
On October 19, the US superior court, which had a vacant seat at the time, refused to take the case, dividing 4 to 4, conservatives against liberals. But he also indicated that he could take over the case after the vote, and now has nine members after Trump-nominated Conservative Amy Coney Barrett joined in late October.
The Republican request did not provide any evidence that the ballots are not being segregated already, but said that without the intervention of the Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania secretary of state could change the guidance given the 67 county boards.
If the court issues a stay and accepts the case, it has the potential to declare invalid ballots that are late, which the state is separating from others at this time.
But it may not make a difference: The number of late votes could be significantly less than Biden’s lead over Trump in the state.
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