The Republican National Committee asked the Supreme Court on Monday to intervene quickly in a lawsuit to stop election officials in the battleground state of Pennsylvania from accepting certain provisional ballots.
The RNC’s request, made one week out from Election Day and after more than a million Pennsylvanians have already returned mail-in ballots, took aim at voters who mail in “naked ballots.” The term is used to describe ballots that arrive without mandatory inner envelopes, known as “secrecy envelopes.”
2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE
RNC attorneys argued in their petition to the high court that the left-leaning Pennsylvania Supreme Court defied the state legislature when it ordered election officials to accept provisional ballots on Election Day from people who submit mail-in ballots with missing secrecy envelopes.
State law bars Pennsylvania election officials from allowing voters to cure a defective mail-in ballot by filling in a provisional ballot on Election Day.
The attorneys said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling required emergency attention from the U.S. Supreme Court because it could affect thousands of voters in a state widely considered a competitive must-win in the 2024 election.
“This case is of paramount public importance, potentially affecting tens of thousands of votes in a State which many anticipate could be decisive in control of the U.S. Senate or even the 2024 Presidential Election,” the RNC attorneys wrote. “Whether that crucial election will be conducted under the rules set by the General Assembly or under the whims of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is an important constitutional question meriting this Court’s immediate attention.”
The Supreme Court quickly responded to the RNC by ordering the plaintiffs in the case to submit their responses to the RNC by Wednesday afternoon.
2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Faith Genser and Frank Matis, the two original plaintiffs, who were later joined in the case by Democratic groups, originally brought the lawsuit against election officials in Butler County after they were told their provisional ballots were not counted during the primary. The pair had attempted to cast provisional ballots after they were notified that they submitted mail-in ballots with missing secrecy envelopes.
The RNC’s petition was the second major election-related legal fight to arrive at the Supreme Court on Monday. Virginia also turned to the Supreme Court, asking that the high court step in to allow state officials to remove 1,600 potential noncitizens from its list of registered voters.