Washington:
A U.S. Supreme Court judge on Friday dismissed a request by Republicans in Pennsylvania to immediately halt the counting of ballots arriving after election day – returning the challenge to Full Court for decision on Saturday.
Samuel Alito ordered Pennsylvania to continue separating late ballots, confirming a decision already made by the state’s top election official.
The latest petition for an emergency injunction – filed as Democrat Joe Biden bolstered his lead and was on the verge of defeating President Donald Trump – targeted thousands of ballots.
Most are believed to be in favor of 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 p.m. on election night be kept separate from others and prevent them from being counted.
The problem is that if they are mixed up with other ballots, it would make any disqualification attempt impossible.
“Given the results of the November 3, 2020 general election, the vote in Pennsylvania may well determine the next president of the United States,” Republicans said.
“It is not clear whether the 67 county electoral councils separate the late ballots,” the petition added.
Republicans have been fighting for months against the state’s decision to accept ballots in the mail by November 3 and arriving on Friday. Previously, the deadline for acceptance was on election day itself.
The state Supreme Court ruled the legal decision and was then appealed in the federal system.
On October 19, the United States Supreme Court, which had a vacant seat, let the state court’s decision run as a 4-4 split decision along conservative-liberal lines.
But the high court has said it could take up the case after the election and now has nine members after Trump-appointed Tory Amy Coney Barrett joined in late October.
Trump has explicitly said he wants Barrett to go to court on any election-related matter.
Friday’s petition appeared more broadly aimed at delaying finalizing the Eastern State vote count, which would effectively postpone the election to Biden.
A delay could give the High Court time to reopen the broader case of the legality of late votes.
Even if the court orders a stay of the recount, it might not make a difference. Election analysts say the number of late ballots could be much lower than Biden’s lead over Trump in the state.
