The Wolf administration is asking the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to extend mail-in voting deadlines in November because of concerns that the U.S. Postal Service would not be able to get the ballots back to the counties in time to be counted.
According to data from kywnewsradio, Pennsylvania’s Department of State, as stated in a filing late Thursday night, is looking to the highest court in the state to allow mail-in ballots to be counted up to three days after Election Day.
In the court filing, Wolf administration lawyers cite a letter from U.S. Postal Service general counsel Thomas Marshall dated July 29. “Certain deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standards,” Marshall wrote.
“This mismatch creates a risk that ballots requested near the deadline under state law will not be returned by mail in time to be counted under your laws as we understand them.”
“To state it simply: voters who apply for mail-in ballots in the last week of the application period and return their complete ballot by mail will, through no fault of their own, likely be disenfranchised,” Wolf administration lawyers wrote in the 13-page filing.
You can read: Pennsylvania counties want all-mail primary election
Right now, Pennsylvania voters can request a ballot up to a week before the election, but votes cannot be counted if received after Election Day. The post office is recommending voters submit their ballot requests at least 15 days before the election, “preferably long before that time.”
That election was the first test of a 2019 state law that allows voters to mail in a ballot, without an excuse that meets narrowly tailored definitions in state law. However, demand for mail-in ballots unexpectedly skyrocketed during the pandemic, as voters preferred to vote by mail rather than go to a polling station in person.
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