In Huge Blow to GOP, Supreme Court Refuses to Block Counting of Provisional Ballots Incorrectly Filled Out in Pennsylvania

In a huge blow to the GOP, the US Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency application seeking to pause Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruling on provisional ballots.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Pennsylvanian GOP sough relief from the high court after state supreme court ruled 4-3 that provisional ballots that were incorrectly filled out or missing the ‘secrecy’ envelope.

Lawyers for the GOP argued that there is no identifying information on the provisional ballots once they are separated from the envelopes.

The Commonwealth’s state supreme court ruled that “provisional votes can be counted only after a person’s eligibility to vote and the rejection of their mail-in ballot are confirmed.” – Fox News reported.

“Counting Electors’ provisional ballots, when their mail ballots are void for failing to use a Secrecy Envelope, is a statutory right,” state Supreme Court Justice Christine Donohue wrote in the majority opinion, adding that the rule in question is “intended to alleviate potential disenfranchisement for eligible voters.” – Fox News reported.

Fox News reported:

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a state court ruling that allowed for the counting of certain provisional ballots, in a major setback for the state GOP and Republican National Committee just four days before the election.

The Republican National Committee and the state GOP filed an emergency appeal to the nation’s top court last week seeking to temporarily halt a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that ordered the state to count voters whose provisional ballots had been incorrectly filled out or were missing an inner “secrecy” envelope.

Attorneys for the Republican Party urged the Supreme Court to grant a full stay of the state’s decision, writing in a final reply brief submitted Thursday evening that such an order would “prevent multiple forms” of “irreparable harm” to the state.

At a minimum, the court was urged to grant a “segregation order” to allow the ballots to be set aside and counted separately.

“The actual provisional ballots contain no identifying information, only a vote,” the GOP’s lawyers wrote. “Once ballots are separated from their outer envelopes, there is no way to retroactively figure out which ballots were illegally cast. In other words, once the egg is scrambled, it cannot be unscrambled.”

Earlier this month the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit over mail-in ballot curing.

The RNC sued Pennsylvania to block mail-in ballot curing and the state’s high court said the committee filed the lawsuit too close to the election.

Election officials will now be able to notify voters of ‘mistakes’ and allow them to make changes to their ballots.

Last month the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that undated ballots or improperly dated ballots won’t be counted.