WASHINGTON, DC – Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued a stay order Tuesday blocking the decision of a federal appeals court that required the counting of undated ballots in Pennsylvania elections.
The matter eventually ended up in federal court because one provision of federal voting-rights law, 52 U.S.C. § 10101, purports to limit what sort of information a state can require on a state ballot. A federal district judge ruled in favor of the state law. While a local election in the Keystone State may not typically be a topic of national news, this ruling also has significant implications for other races. There are hotly contested races for governor and U.S. senator in the state. Currently, the top two candidates for the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate race, Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, are only a few hundred votes apart. And of course, Pennsylvania is a critical state these days in presidential elections as well.
It is unclear at this point when the Supreme Court will resolve the matter. This stay is only temporary. The justices could issue what is called aopinion either on the application for a stay or once a “cert petition” has been filed.