Pennsylvania — an important swing state — is pleading with the state’s Supreme Court after the USPS said they couldn’t guarantee on time delivery of mail-in-ballots
Ted Warren/AP
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US Postal Service told the Pennsylvania Secretary of State that some ballots might not be delivered on time because their delivery standards couldn’t accommodate the state’s tight election deadlines, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
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Pennsylvania’s Department of State has now asked the Supreme Court to allow for mail ballots to be counted if they’re received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election date.
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If approved that means the winner of the presidential race in the swing state won’t be known for days after the election date.
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1% of the states 1,460,700 primary mail-in-ballots were rejected because they were late, NPR reported.
Pennsylvania’s Department of State asked the Supreme Court to allow for mail ballots to be counted if they’re received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election date, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The request came after the US Postal Service informed the key swing state that some ballots might not be delivered on time because their delivery standards couldn’t accommodate the state’s tight election deadlines.
Thomas J. Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president of the Postal Service, sent a letter on July 29 to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar warning of the issue, which could disenfranchise voters.
Boockvar’s office oversees the election.
Last month, NPR reported that 65,000 absentee or mail-in ballots have been rejected across the country for arriving past the deadline. In most cases, the tardiness was not the fault of the voter.
In Pennsylvania, a little over 1% of the 1,460,700 primary mail-in-ballots were rejected.
That means it could be a problem in a close race this November — in an already tight swing state. According to results posted by The New York Times, Donald Trump won the state over Hillary Clinton in 2016 by 44,292 votes.
If the State Departments’ request is approved by the Supreme Court, it means that the results of the election between President Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden until days after the election.
Trump has recently attacked the Postal Service and said he would oppose funding the department over concerns that mail-in-voting would be expanded. The president claimed that the practice would benefit Democrats despite no evidence for the claim.
“They want $25 billion — billion — for the post office. Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business on Thursday morning. “Now, in the meantime, they aren’t getting there. By the way, those are just two items. But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting … because they’re not equipped.”
Business Insider previously reported that despite claims made by Trump rates of fraud by mail-in ballots are extremely low, and there’s no evidence that expanding the practice benefits or harms any political party.
Read the original article on Business Insider
