A Pennsylvania judge ruled in favor of the Trump campaign on Thursday, ordering that the state may not count ballots where voters did not provide proof of identification before Nov. 9.
Existing Pennsylvania law states that voters have up to six days after the election to cure issues with a ballot, such as a lack of identification. Election Day was Nov. 3 this year, meaning that voters had until Nov. 9 to correct their ballots.
In September, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots could be accepted three days after Election Day. The issue went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and following a 4-4 tie, Pennsylvania was permitted to accept ballots three days after Election Day.
Two days before Election Day, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (D), who oversees elections in the state, issued a guidance that proof of ID could be provided up until Nov. 12 to cure ballots.
President Trump's legal team argued that Boockvar had no power to change the date. The ballots received from Nov. 10 through Nov. 12 were segregated until there was a ruling to determine if they would be counted or not.
On Thursday, Pennsylvania Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt ruled that Boockvar "lacked statutory authority" to enable an extension period to cure ballots.
"[T]he Court concludes that Respondent Kathy Boockvar, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Commonwealth, lacked statutory authority to issue the November 1, 2020, guidance to Respondents County Boards of Elections insofar as that guidance purported to change the deadline … for certain electors to verify proof of identification," Leavitt said in a court order.
"Accordingly, the court hereby orders the respondents County Board of Elections are enjoined from counting any ballots that have been segregated pursuant to Paragraph 1 of this court's order dated November 5, 2020, granting a special injunction," Leavitt wrote.
"None of the votes affected by the ruling had yet been included in the state's official tally," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. No indication was given on how many ballots were affected by Judge Leavitt's ruling.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden currently holds a 54,325-vote lead over President Trump in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said on Sunday that the "overwhelming majority" of the state's ballots will be counted — but not until several days after Election Day.
The presumed delay makes it increasingly likely that Americans won't know who has won the presidency until days after Tuesday, November 3, as election forecasters project the Keystone State to be the pivotal battleground on which the election will hinge.
Boockvar told NBC's "Meet the Press" that she expects in total there will be 10 times as many mail-in ballots in the state this year as there were in 2016. And in several counties, against her wishes, officials have said they won't start counting those ballots until Wednesday morning.
"So yes, it will take longer," she acknowledged. "I expect the overwhelming majority of ballots in Pennsylvania, that's mail-in absentee ballots as well as in-person ballots, will be counted within a matter of days."
She added that counties plan to have people counting "24/7 until it's done."
Though Boockvar seems to have intended the statement to be reassuring by granting that it will take days rather than weeks until results from the state are announced, the news is sure to garner a negative response from those who suggest delays in counting votes will open the election to possible fraud or general chaos.
The Democratic secretary of state also tried to reassure viewers by saying the delay is not a big deal because "elections have never been called on election night." She noted that service members overseas have until a week after election day to cast ballots in some states.
The problem is, as the New York Times notes, "Americans are accustomed to knowing who won on election night because news organizations project winners based on partial counts, not because the counting is actually completed that quickly."
So in this case, unlike in the past, a much larger portion of the total vote will probably be uncounted on election night, and therefore a projection of who won the state will, in all likelihood, not be made.
The delay on counting absentee ballots already submitted is further exacerbated by the state's decision — permitted by the Supreme Court — to extend the deadline for counting ballots received up to three days after November 3.
As of Monday, most polls show Democratic nominee Joe Biden ahead in Pennsylvania, but President Trump has been narrowing the gap in the lead-up to Election Day.
Descriptions of the "virtual events" note they are "focused on state-specific election law issues" and "tailored for local journalists in key battleground states."
Two voters are trying to use the courts as a cudgel to force Butler County to accept the new 'cured' ballots, according to a Tuesday filing.
Winning requires first acknowledging past and existing problems.
SCOTUS has ruled that undated mail-in ballots cannot be counted in Pennsylvania. But the Commonwealth’s secretary of state has other ideas.
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