The Vote And Voting Problems, Pre-Election Day 2020
A couple of decisions out of Pennsylvania Friday and some not-great news for the Trump reelection campaign. First, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania rejected a bid by the Trump campaign to have poll watchers at new satellite election offices in Philadelphia where voters can request and return mail-in ballots in person. The campaign had argued that the offices were operating as de facto polling places, but in a 2-1 decision, the court ruled to uphold an earlier rejection from a trial court. Meanwhile, in a unanimous decision, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled that counties cannot reject mail-in ballots solely due to a signature mismatch, a response to a lawsuit brought by voter-rights groups.
In New Jersey Thursday, another challenge from the Trump campaign seeking to stop the state’s mail-in ballot program was tossed out by a federal court judge.
Only three states don’t allow mail ballots to be returned in person: Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee. A lawsuit sought to change that in Missouri, but Thursday a court ruling confirmed that, no, Missouri voters cannot drop off their mail ballots in person.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court issued an order that seemed like a win for Democrats in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. The justices split 4-4 on a request from state Republican officials to block a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that allows for the counting of mail-in ballots that are received up to three days after Election Day.
Seems like that’s the end of that, right? Well…not really. The order from the Supreme Court justices wasn’t a ruling (there wasn’t even an explanation of their reasoning), and it didn’t uphold the state court decision. The justices merely split on the question of whether the state Supreme Court ruling should be blocked, which meant that the lower court’s ruling automatically stood. That leaves an opening for Republicans to bring the case back to the court when it once again has a full complement of nine justices — i.e., after Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who seems likely to be confirmed by the Senate early next week, is sworn in.
In fact, Pennsylvania Republicans resurrected their claim yesterday in a new case filed in federal court that they claim also raises new legal issues for the court to consider. Another lawsuit could also plausibly end up at the Supreme Court if the margin in Pennsylvania is close enough that whether late-arriving ballots are counted could decide the outcome.
It’s very possible, then, that the Supreme Court could be ruling again soon on the Pennsylvania mail-in ballot deadline. And with another solid conservative vote, the outcome could very well swing in the other direction.