Trump May Have Just Lost Pennsylvania As Supreme Court Extends Ballot Deadline

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court responded to Trump’s mail sabotage by extending the deadline for ballots to be received to 5 p.m. the Friday after Election Day.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported:

State law says mail ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, but the high court said Thursday that ballots would be counted if they are received by 5 p.m. the Friday after the Nov. 3 election. To count, ballots arriving after Election Day must either be postmarked by Nov. 3 or have no proof they were sent afterward. Ballots that arrive by the new deadline with missing or illegible postmarks would still be counted.

In addition, the court held that state election law allows counties to use drop boxes for hand delivery of mail ballots; denied requests from President Donald Trump’s campaign and others to allow poll watchers to work in counties other than the ones where they are registered; and denied a request that other people be allowed to deliver voters’ ballots.

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The state supreme court also kicked the Green Party off of the ballot in Pennsylvania, which is huge because Jill Stein picked up 60,000 votes in a state that Trump won by 44,000 votes.

Given that tens of thousands of votes that Trump tried to suppress are likely to be counted and with the Green Party not on the ticket to siphon votes off of Biden/Harris, Pennsylvania is looking like an increasingly difficult uphill climb for Trump.

In order for Trump to win a second term, he needed an exact replica of 2016’s political landscape, but things have changed dramatically in Pennsylvania with the expansion of no-excuse absentee voting, and the inability to disqualify ballots for signature mismatches.

Joe Biden is leading the Pennsylvania polls, and the rulings by the Supreme Court may have put him on the path to winning Pennsylvania.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association