US presidential election: Supreme Court rejects Republican bid on Pennsylvania ballot counting
File photo.
The United States (US) Supreme Court on Friday (Nov 1) rejected an emergency bid from Republicansthat could have led to thousands of provisional ballots not being counted in Pennsylvania as the presidential campaigns vie in the final days before the election in the state on November 5.
A report by the news agency Associated Press early Saturday said that justices left in placea state Supreme Court ruling that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected.
Pennsylvania is the biggest presidential election battleground this year, with 19 electoral votes, and is expected to play an outsized role in deciding the election between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
SC ruling a win for voting-rights advocates
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The Associated Press report said that the top court's ruling on Friday was a win for voting-rights advocates, who had sought to force counties — primarily Republican-controlled counties — to let voters cast a provisional ballot on Election Day (November 5) if their mail-in ballot was to be rejected for a garden-variety error.
Though the Supreme Court's rulingwas a setback for Republicans, the GOP separately claimed victory in a decision by Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court.
That court rejected a last-ditch effort by voting rights advocates to ensure that mail-in ballots that lack an accurate, handwritten date on the exterior envelope will still count in the election.
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The rulings are the latest in four years of litigation over voting by mail in Pennsylvania. Republicans have sought in dozens of court cases to push the strictest possible interpretation for throwing out mail-in ballots, which are predominantly cast by Democrats.
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Taken together, Friday’s near-simultaneous rulings would ensure a heavy emphasis on helping thousands of people vote provisionally on November 5 if their mail-in ballot was rejected — and potentially more litigation.
As of Thursday, around9,000 ballots out of more than 1.6 million returned have arrived at electionoffices around Pennsylvania lacking a secrecy envelope, a signature or a handwritten date, the report said citing state records.
(With inputs from agencies)