Supreme Court Won’t Block Pennsylvania Ruling Allowing Voters With Rejected Mail-In Ballots To Cast Provisional Votes

The Supreme Court declined Friday to block a lower court ruling finding Pennsylvania voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected over errors can cast a provisional vote.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the question is of “considerable importance” but noted that even siding with the Republican National Committee (RNC) at this time “could not prevent the consequences they fear” in a statement joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Oct. 23 to allow voters a second chance to cast a provisional ballot in-person when their mail ballots are rejected, a decision Republicans argued “dramatically” changed the rules and “departed from the plain terms of the Election Code.”

Republicans asked the Supreme Court to block the ruling on Monday, writing in their petition that this is “the second consecutive presidential election in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has changed important election rules at the last minute.”

“Even if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision does not change the outcome of any election, the question of whether the provisional ballots can be added to the vote total would remain a concrete dispute this Court can review,” the RNC argued in its emergency application. “Reviewing that court’s authority to do so — even after Election Day (when the pressure of an imminent election would be absent) — would provide invaluable guidance for future elections.’”