Pennsylvania Supreme Court extends mail ballot deadlines for November election
Last edited Thu Sep 17, 2020, 04:18 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court extended the state’s mail ballot deadlines on Thursday, a move that could allow tens of thousands of additional votes to be counted — and will likely draw criticism from Republicans, who have argued that votes should be received by Election Day.
State law says mail ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, but the high court said Thursday that ballots will 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.
Along with another decision that kicked the Green Party’s presidential candidate off the ballot, the rulings were a boost to Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign in a critical swing state just 47 days before Election Day.
Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/live/coronavirus-covid-cases-philadelphia-pa-nj-de-updates-testing-news-20200917.html#card-1470613893
The PA State Supreme Court is elected and is 5 (D) - 2 (R).
ETA - a longer article is now available here - https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-mail-ballot-deadlines-state-supreme-court-ruling-20200917.html
SUMMARY OF RULING
= new reply since forum marked as read
almost ... take nothing for granted ...GOTV
Thank you for posting and summarizing.
because initially I had missed the Green Party candidates being completely kicked off. The lower court had only ruled to remove the VP candidate but the high court threw both off! 
The drop box issue is also a big win for us too! I expect the GOP is going to try to end run in federal court but so far, the (slowly-being-radicalized) federal courts (as they should) have deferred to state courts when it comes to things related to state Constitutions. 
Thanks for sharing, BRDS.
