The campaign's latest issue is guidance that Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar issued Nov. 1, telling counties that voters could take until Nov. 12 to submit proof of identity if their mail-in ballots were questioned. The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee said that the three-day extension violated the state Election Code, which sets the deadline as Nov. 9, and Commonwealth Court Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt agreed Thursday to set aside any ballots that were fixed after the earlier date until the court could fully weigh the case.
"To maintain the status quo ante pending the disposition of the merits ... the county boards of elections shall segregate ballots for which identification is received and verified on November 10, 11, and 12, 2020, from ballots for which identification is received and verified on or before November 9," the judge's order said. "The segregated ballots ... shall not be counted until further order of this court."
State law allows voters a six-day period after Election Day to submit proof of their identities if their ballots are questioned, the campaign's petition said. The campaign had requested an injunction blocking counties from counting any ballots that didn't get the required identification verification by the original Nov. 9 deadline, and a declaration from the court that the secretary's guidance was illegal.
"As neither Secretary Boockvar nor the county elections boards have any authority to re-write the Election Code or administer the Nov. 3, 2020 general election in a manner that is inconsistent and/or directly contrary to the Election Code's clear and unambiguous mandates, petitioners seek special, preliminary, and/or permanent injunctive relief to enjoin respondents' attempted extension of … the six-day calendar period," the petition said.
It was unclear from the filings how many ballots get challenged or cured through the identity verification process, or how many might arrive after Nov. 9, but Trump's early lead in Pennsylvania had narrowed as of Thursday afternoon as more and more mail-in ballots were counted. The campaign and Republican candidates have sought to narrow the circumstances in which voters can fix mail-in ballots that were rejected for technical deficiencies, or to throw out ballots that arrive after Election Day.
Boockvar's three-day extension from Nov. 9 to Nov. 12 corresponded to the extra three days the Pennsylvania Supreme Court gave for mail-in ballots to arrive if they were mailed or dropped off by the end of Election Day, Nov. 3. A deficient ballot arriving at the end of the extended return period Nov. 6 would still have six days for the voter to provide proof of identification and still be counted.
But state Republicans and the Trump campaign are contesting Pennsylvania's extended ballot-return deadline at the U.S. Supreme Court, and Trump has claimed on Twitter — in spite of multiple states that have laws or court rulings allowing them to do so — that "ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED." Pennsylvania is already segregating and separately counting any ballots that arrive after Election Day in case it loses the case.
As in the U.S. Supreme Court case, the campaign argued Wednesday that the Election Code was the law, and Boockvar had gone against its clear dictate by extending a deadline that was laid out in the code.
"The clear, unambiguous language of … the Election Code provides that if an absentee or mail-in voter elector who is required to provide proof of identification that can be verified by the county elections fails to provide that proof by Monday, November 9, 2020, 'then the absentee ballot or mail-in ballot shall not be counted,'" the campaign's petition said. "Secretary Boockvar's November 1, 2020 guidance illegally extends the six-day statutory period … by tying the commencement of the period to 'following the canvassing' instead of 'following the election.'"
The Commonwealth Court held a closed status conference on the matter Thursday afternoon before Judge Leavitt's order, which she said would expire when she reached a final decision on whether to count the votes in question.
"No votes that have already been counted will be affected by this decision," said a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, representing Boockvar.
Counsel for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee are represented by Ronald L. Hicks Jr., Jeremy A. Mercer and Carolyn B. McGee of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP.
Boockvar is represented by Daniel T. Brier, Donna A. Walsh and John B. Dempsey of Myers Brier & Kelly LLP, and Keli M. Neary and Karen M. Romano of the Pennsylvania attorney general's office.
The case is Donald Trump for President Inc. et al. v. Boockvar et al., case number 602 MD 2020, in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
--Editing by Abbie Sarfo.
Update: This article has been updated with a response from the Pennsylvania attorney general's office.
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