Ohio AG Joins In Case Involving Pennsylvania Absentee Ballot Deadline

Ohio’s Republican attorney general wants the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling extending the deadline for absentee ballots to be returned in that state.

The case is among the multiple legal actions President Donald Trump’s team is involved with after the election, which has been called for Democrat Joe Biden.

The Republican Attorneys General Association said in its filing that Pennsylvania’s Democratic Supreme Court should not have allowed absentee ballots to be accepted after election day, since state law required those ballots to be in by election day.

“I’m bothered by that philosophically because I don’t think judges should sit as a super legislature," said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who is among 10 attorneys general  who filed briefs supporting their colleagues.

“The Supreme Court ought to answer the question that’s currently pending before it – about the meaning of the elections clause and whether the ruling making is limited to the legislature or whether courts have the ability to intervene," Yost said.

Yost said this won’t have an impact this year, but could be important in the future.

A few thousand Pennsylvania ballots received after election day are being set aside while the court battle goes on. Late Tuesday, Pennsylvania's secretary of state announced there are about 10,000 ballots total that have come in after election day, so she will ask the judge to toss out the lawsuit because it won't affect the outcome of the election there. Biden leads Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 47,000 votes.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the Pennsylvania court’s ordera few weeks ago, but some conservative justices said they could revisit the issue after the election.

Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.