HARRISBURG, Pa. - A court that declared Pennsylvania’s expansive 2-year-old mail-in voting law violates the state constitution is following by saying its ruling can take effect in mid-March.
But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will weigh in first.
A Commonwealth court judge has sided with Republican legislators challenging the constitutionality of mail-in balloting. The move calls for an end to mail-in balloting on March 15.
But Ben Geffen, a staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia, said the case is far from over.
“The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the court who will have the final word on this,” he said.
Gov. Tom Wolf appealed the Commonwealth Court’s decision, moving the case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Geffen’s office has filed a brief in support of mail-in balloting, which will also be considered. He said the pandemic has shown that millions of voters can use mail-in ballots without any issues.
“I do not anticipate that voters will be stripped of the right to use mail-in balloting in the spring primary, or really, for any future election,” Geffen said.
Instead, Geffen said he believes Republican legislators originally made the challenge because of former President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud during the last election.
“It’s not surprising that there are some people that have pursued these false claims that there’s some sort of problem with mail-in ballots,” he said.
The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on this case on March 8.