Battleground state's high court rejects GOP challenge to provisional ballot rules

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the authorities indispensable number provisional ballots for voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected oregon improperly filled retired successful a 4-3 determination that could supply thousands of voters successful the authorities with a 2nd accidental to formed their vote.

The ruling is the latest successful a drawstring of defeats for Republicans, who person filed astir 100 election-related tribunal challenges successful caller weeks successful what they accidental are ineligible challenges aimed astatine preventing elector fraud done absentee and mail-in ballots. 

Many of them person been filed successful plaything states considered pivotal for either campaigner to triumph the presidency.

Supporters astatine a run rally for erstwhile President Donald Trump astatine the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport successful Latrobe, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

In Pennsylvania, the RNC had appealed a little tribunal determination that allowed voters who mistakenly sent their mail-in ballots without an interior "secrecy" envelope to formed in-person provisional ballots astatine their section polling location.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld that determination successful a 4-3 vote, siding with a little tribunal that had ruled that a section predetermination committee successful Butler County had been incorrect this twelvemonth erstwhile they disqualified provisional ballots formed by respective residents successful the 2024 superior election. 

A elector hands successful her mail-in ballot astatine a Montgomery County services van successful King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

THE 1.6M VOTERS WHO COULD DETERMINE THE US ELECTION DON’T CURRENTLY RESIDE IN THE COUNTRY

Writing for the majority, Justice Christine Donohue said provisional ballots beryllium arsenic a "failsafe" for eligible voters successful Pennsylvania to support against disenfranchisement.

The tribunal noted that provisional votes tin beryllium counted lone aft a person’s eligibility to ballot and the rejection of their mail-in ballot are confirmed. 

"Counting Electors’ provisional ballots, erstwhile their message ballots are void for failing to usage a Secrecy Envelope, is simply a statutory right," Donahue wrote, adding that the regularisation successful question is "intended to alleviate imaginable disenfranchisement for eligible voters."

The municipality of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. (Adam Shaw/Fox News Digital)

It is unclear however galore residents successful Pennsylvania volition be impacted by the decision, and the Republican Party did not instantly respond to Fox News’s petition for comment.

Still, the determination comes arsenic Democrats person sought to presumption themselves arsenic the enactment that supports escaped and just elections, seizing connected Republican lawsuits arsenic a means of disenfranchising voters.

To wit, they person invested immoderate six figures successful a elector registration run to assistance mobilize U.S. residents surviving abroad. In the U.S., enactment efforts question to amended voters successful cardinal plaything states connected however and erstwhile to vote.

They besides praised the determination successful a connection Thursday, with a Democratic Party authoritative and a spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris’s run describing the court’s ruling arsenic a rejection of "bogus ineligible claims."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"While Republicans effort to artifact your vote, Democrats are protecting it and lasting up for the rule that each eligible elector has a close to marque their dependable heard, nary substance however they vote," they told Fox News Digital successful a associated statement. And this ruling reaffirms that principle."

Get the latest updates from the 2024 run trail, exclusive interviews and much astatine our Fox News Digital predetermination hub. 

Provisional ballots are a 'failsafe' from disenfranchising voters who made an mistake erstwhile mailing successful a ballot, says authorities Supreme Court justice