Pa. Supreme Court denies motion to stay ballot decision requested by Republicans

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday denied a request by state Republicans to stay its decision allowing for the use of ballot drop boxes and an extended deadline for mail-in ballots.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph B. Scarnati III, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, House Speaker Bryan Cutler and House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff requested the stay on Tuesday while they appeal the court’s Sept. 17 decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 5-2 opinion granted requests from the Democratic Party to allow an extra three days to count mail-in ballots, including those with illegible postmarks; and to allow the use of ballot drop boxes.

In their motion to stay, the state Republicans argued that only the General Assembly has the authority to regulate election times and locations, and that the court overreached.

Thursday’s order denying the request for a stay did not include any explanation or reasoning.

Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy issued a dissenting statement specifically addressing the idea that ballots without legible postmarks would be given a presumption that they were mailed by Election Day.

She cited a 2020 US. Supreme Court case which stayed a Wisconsin Supreme Court judgment, in which the high court wrote that “extending the date by which ballots may be cast by voters after the scheduled election day fundamentally alters the nature of the election.”

“It is reasonable that the United States Supreme Court may view this Court’s presumption regarding ballots lacking a postmark or bearing an illegible postmark in the same light,” Mundy wrote. “As a result, I would grant a stay to preserve the public confidence in the integrity of the upcoming election.”