Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballot Deadline Extended By 3 Days

PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania's mail-in ballot deadline has been extended by three days, the state Supreme Court decided Thursday.

Current law states that mail-in ballots must be received by county boards of elections by 8 p.m. on Election Day, which this year is Nov. 3.

However, Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar pushed for an extension, saying as many as 3 million mail-in ballots were expected to come in due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In 2020, ballots will be counted if they are received by 5 p.m. the Friday after the Nov. 3 election, the Supreme Court decided. Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3.

"After consideration, we adopt the Secretary’s informed recommendation of a three-day extension of the absentee and mail-in ballot received by deadline to allow for the tabulation of ballots mailed by voters via the USPS and postmarked by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day to reduce voter disenfranchisement resulting from the conflict between the Election Code and the current USPS delivery standards, given the expected number of Pennsylvanians opting to use mail-in ballots during the pandemic," the court wrote in its decision.

Pennsylvania passed a law last year that allows residents to vote by mail without providing a reason. It proved crucial with the dawn of the pandemic, as record numbers of voters cast mail-in ballots.

"We are fully cognizant that a balance must be struck between providing voters ample time to request mail-in ballots, while also building enough flexibility into the election timeline to guarantee that ballot has time to travel through the USPS delivery system to ensure that the completed ballot can be counted in the election," the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision said.

However, the decision continued, "voters’ rights are better protected by addressing the impending crisis at this point in the election cycle on a statewide basis rather than allowing the chaos to brew, creating voter confusion regarding whether extensions will be granted, for how long, and in what counties."

Local Republicans have been vocal in their opposition to mail-in balloting, and leaders have noted several issues that occurred following the June primary. The Montgomery County Republican Committee said that a number of ballots were mailed with incorrect instructions, and that some voters received incorrect ballots.

"(I'm worried) that we do not have a fair election based upon the issues we experienced in the primary," Elizabeth Preate Havey, the director of the Montgomery County Republican Committee, told Patch in July.

Mail-in voting continues to be strongly encouraged by Gov. Wolf's administration and health officials.

The move to extend the mail-in deadline was one of two significant decisions announced Thursday by the state Supreme Court. The court also ruled that Green Party candidates, including those running for president, must be removed from ballots due to paperwork errors.

In 2016, Green Party candidate Jill Stein earned 49,941 votes in Pennsylvania, accounting for 0.8 percent of the total. Another third party candidate, Libertarian Gary Johnson, earned 146,715 votes, or 2.4 percent.

Donald Trump ultimately defeated Hillary Clinton by just over 44,000 votes in the Keystone State.

Joe Biden holds a 4.3 point lead over Trump in an average of recent polls in Pennsylvania, according to RealClearPolitics. It's a lead that's shrunk notably in recent weeks, when there was about an eight point gap in late July.

President Trump reacted in real-time to the news out of Pennsylvania, saying via Twitter "We will be watching that the Democrats do not Ballot Harvest - a felony."