wgdsr wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 4:37 pm
democrats in pa pushed for late ballot counts, including those without postmarks. i don't agree with either of those measures. can you imagine how many late ballots we might see in pa if it's tight?
This is incomplete. It is true that Democrats have advocated that ballots received after election day be counted, but not without restriction.
A Pennsylvania statute currently provides that ballots must be received by the close of polls on election day (8 p.m.). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, due to Covid concerns, ruled that ballots postmarked by election day and received by Friday, November 6 are to be counted. Ballots without postmarks received by that date are also to be counted unless there is evidence they were mailed after election day.
The reason for the “no postmark” rule is that many envelopes these days don’t have a postmark date printed on them. Just look at your own mail.
The Republicans have appealed to the US Supreme Court. Judge Alito, who I assume is the Third Circuit justice, has told the Dems to respond by October 5.
Wouldn’t surprise me if the Supremes rule that the strict state law must be enforced, that is, ballots received after election day aren’t to be counted. That would be wrong, in my view, because the state court should be permitted to interpret its own law. I’m not sure what the federal issue is here. Certainly it is not like the equal protection type of concerns raised in Bush v. Gore. (Note that a 4-4 tie would mean the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision is upheld.)
I think this is the first 2020 presidential election case that has made it to the Supreme Court. Will be very interesting to see how they resolve it.
It remains to be seen, of course, how many Pa. ballots are received after election day and whether they would tip the election in Pennsylvania. My guess is they won’t.