The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday ordered election officers within the state to cease counting mail-in ballots marked with the unsuitable date or lacking dates from their outer envelopes.
The court docket order specifies that Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, the place Republicans argue that officers have opted to rely mail-in ballots with errors on their outer envelopes, should adhere to the excessive court docket’s earlier rulings, which stated undated or misdated mail-in ballots shouldn’t be counted.
The directive is a courtroom victory for Republican Dave McCormick, who holds a slim lead over Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in a razor-thin Senate race that’s headed to a recount this week.
Elizabeth Gregory, a spokesperson for McCormick’s marketing campaign, known as the ruling “a large setback to Casey’s try to rely unlawful ballots” in a put up on X, including that McCormick “seems ahead to taking the Oath of Office in January.”
Tiernan Donohue, a marketing campaign supervisor for Casey, characterised the litigation in a assertion Monday as a part of an effort by McCormick and different Republicans to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters.
“David McCormick and the nationwide Republicans are working to throw out provisional ballots solid by eligible Pennsylvania voters and accepted by county boards. It is unsuitable and we are going to battle it,” Donohue stated.
McCormick declared victory Friday after The Associated Press projected him the winner. NBC News has not but projected a winner within the race, which stays too near name. McCormick leads Casey by 17,408 votes with 99.7% of the vote in and 24,000 ballots nonetheless to be counted.
Pennsylvania guidelines set off a recount of ballots when the margin is lower than 0.5 share factors. The recount, set to start this week, have to be accomplished by midday Nov. 26.
The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania had filed the petition looking for a court docket order, singling out election boards led by Democrats in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties that had beforehand voted to tabulate ballots missing appropriate dates.
The counties had determined to rely these ballots beneath the reasoning that an incorrect date didn’t point out {that a} voter was ineligible, nor did it recommend that the poll was illegitimate.