A trio of Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulings will likely boost Biden against Trump in a key state

by Jonathan Lai, Chris Brennan, Jonathan Tamari and Cynthia Fernandez, Updated: September 17, 2020

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday issued rulings that could make it easier for people to vote by mail, steps likely to aid Democrat Joe Biden’s prospects and increase the likelihood that results in the critical battleground state won’t be known for days after Election Day.

In three decisions less than seven weeks before the Nov. 3 election, the Democratic-controlled high court extended the deadline for mail ballots to be returned, ruled that voters can use drop boxes to return them, and removed the Green Party’s presidential ticket from the ballot.

The changes will likely allow tens of thousands more mail ballots to be counted than would have been accepted previously. Democrats are expected to vote by mail in disproportionate numbers this fall compared with Republicans, who, interviews and polls show, have been turned off from doing so following President Donald Trump’s false attacks on the method as susceptible to widespread fraud.

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Still, the Trump campaign did prevail on the issue of “naked ballots” — mail ballots that arrive without a separate “secrecy envelope” inside the mailing envelope. That decision is likely to disenfranchise some voters, especially those who are new to voting by mail. Republicans argue that secrecy envelopes are important to ensuring the privacy of mail votes.

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