The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, November 5, 2020.
Erin Scott | Reuters
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt an ongoing count of mail-in ballots received in that state after Election Day, a move that came hours after Democratic nominee Joe Biden overtook President Donald Trump in the vote tally there.
The party is asking the Supreme Court to order the Pennsylvania secretary of state to log and segregate those ballots, but to take no other action on them, including counting them, for now.
The GOP is seeking to overturn an extension to 5 p.m. ET Friday of the normal Tuesday deadline for the receipt of mail-in ballots that was granted by the Pennsylania Supreme Court.
The party wants the ballots received after Election Day kept separate and not counted so that they can be invalidated as a group of if its broader effort to overturn the deadline extension is successful.
There are 20 Electoral College votes at stake in Pennsylvania.
If Biden, who currently has won a projected 253 electoral votes from other states, wins the popular vote in Pennsylvania, he would be projected as the winner in the race for the White House, according to NBC News’s current analysis.
A candidate must win at least 270 votes in the Electoral College to be elected president.
Trump had been leading Biden in Pennsylvania’s ongoing ballot count until Friday morning, when Biden pulled ahead of the Repubilcan president because of his strong performance in a count of mail-in ballots.
Biden was outpacing Trump in both Democratic and Republican-leaning counties’ counts of mail-in ballots.
“Given the results of the November 3, 2020 general election, the vote in Pennsylvania may well determine the next President of the United States — and it is currently unclear whether all 67 county boards of elections are segregating late-arriving ballot,” the state GOP said in its filing with the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Thus, without an immediate order from this Court, RPP could lose its right to ‘a targeted remedy’ “if the State Supreme Court’s decision is ultimately overturned.”
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
