Topline
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that Philadelphia and Allegheny counties must count thousands of mail-in ballots that had been challenged due to minor errors, delivering a blow to the Trump campaign and GOP challengers who had contested the ballots and reversing one of the GOP’s only post-election legal victories, though the ruling will not impact the outcome of the presidential election.
Election workers extract mail-in ballots in a secure room at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in ... [+]
Key Facts
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld 8,329 ballots in Philadelphia County that the Trump campaign had sought to disqualify over minor errors like a voter not including their address or the date on the ballot’s outer envelope, affirming a lower court ruling that had also upheld the ballots.
The court also upheld 2,349 ballots in Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located, which were challenged by a GOP Pennsylvania Senate candidate because they were signed but not dated.
While the errors do “[constitute] technical violations of the Election Code,” the court wrote in their opinion, they “do not warrant the wholesale disenfranchisement of thousands of Pennsylvania voters.”
The Allegheny County ballots had previously been rejected by a lower court, but will now be counted thanks to Monday’s ruling.
Biden leads by more than 80,000 votes in the state.
Big Number
35. That’s the number of court losses the Trump campaign and GOP have now suffered in their post-election litigation, according to a tally by Democratic Party attorney Marc Elias. The courts have delivered only three wins to the Trump campaign or GOP plaintiffs, two of which have now been overturned.
Key Background
Pennsylvania has been at the center of the Trump campaign’s post-election litigation efforts, as the campaign has targeted mail-in voting rules, the vote counting process and tried to block the state from certifying the results. Monday’s ruling came on the same day that Pennsylvania counties were required to certify their vote counts, and while Allegheny County certified its results even without the contested ballots, the ruling paves the way for Philadelphia to certify its ballot count at 7 p.m. Monday.
What To Watch For
There are still some outstanding legal challenges in Pennsylvania. The U.S. Supreme Court has still yet to weigh in on whether mail-in ballots that arrived after Election Day during the state’s extended ballot receipt deadline can be counted, and those ballots are currently being segregated and were not included in the vote count. The Trump campaign and other GOP challengers are also appealing in federal court to block Pennsylvania from certifying its election result after a district court judge dismissed their arguments as being “without merit” and “unsupported by evidence” in a scathing ruling Saturday.
Further Reading
Pennsylvania Courts Reject Trump Campaign Effort To Throw Out Thousands Of Mail-In Ballots (Forbes)
‘Not How The Constitution Works’: Trump Campaign’s Biggest Election Lawsuit Fails In Court (Forbes)
Penn. Supreme Court Overturns One Of Trump Campaign’s Only Victories (Forbes)
