The nation’s highest court has rejected an emergency application seeking to bring to a halt the counting of provisional ballots that have been incorrectly filled out.
The Supreme Court upheld a ruling of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowing ballots to be counted even if they weren’t completed correctly or lacked the inner “secrecy” envelope.
The RNC and Pennsylvania state GOP had sought a temporary halt to the state’s decision, writing in a final reply brief that such an order would “prevent multiple forms” of “irreparable harm” to the state.
As a minimum, the Supreme Court was urged by the RNC and state GOP to grant a “segregation order” to allow the ballots to be put to one side 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.”
The issue stems from a lower court ruling in Butler County, Pennsylvania, after a local election board disqualified provisional ballots cast by two residents in the 2024 primary election. Those residents joined the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in a lawsuit to have their votes counted. A state Commonwealth Court granted their motion, and it was upheld last week by a 4-3 Pennsylvania Supreme Court majority.
“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.”
Republicans have filed around 100 court challenges related to the election in recent weeks, which they say are aimed at prevent voter fraud, mainly through absentee and mail-in ballots.
Many of the lawsuits have been filed in seven crucial swing states.
In Pennsylvania, the swing state with the most votes to play for, the GOP’s decision to join a lawsuit over provisional ballots just days before the election is likely to be a strategic move that will allow a firmer footing for a post-election challenge.
A legal expert told Fox News that it’s far easier to get a court involved in a case if there is already a legal challenge on the books.
As Fox notes, it’s unclear exactly how much of an impact the counting of provisional ballots would have. A 2021 study suggested 1.1% of mail-in ballots were not counted due to missing secrecy envelopes. Thus far, fewer mail-in ballots have been received in Pennsylvania than in 2020, during the height of the pandemic’s social restrictions.
In a joint statement on Friday night, the Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee praised the Supreme Court’s decision.
“In Pennsylvania and across the country, Trump and his allies are trying to make it harder for your vote to count, but our institutions are stronger than his shameful attacks,” the statement said.
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