(WASHINGTON POST) Legal jockeying in Pennsylvania intensified Friday as Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure county election officials were segregating mail ballots delivered after Election Day, the latest effort by the GOP to use the courts to intervene in the vote count as former vice president Joe Biden’s advantage grew.
On Friday evening, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who received the petition because he is the justice responsible for that region, approved the GOP request for now, ordering county boards to comply with state guidance to keep the late ballots separate. However, Alito did not direct election officials to stop counting the ballots, as the Republicans had also sought. He called for a response from state officials by Saturday afternoon.