WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans asked Monday US Supreme Court for an emergency order in Pennsylvania that could result in thousands of votes not being counted in this year’s election in the battleground state.

With just over a week before the election, the court is being asked to enter into a dispute provisional ballots cast by Pennsylvania voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures in state law.

The state’s high court ruled 4-3 that election officials must count provisional ballots submitted by voters whose mail-in ballots were voided because they arrived without required secrecy envelopes.

The electoral battle reached the Supreme Court on the same day virgin sought judicial intervention in a dispute over the removal of voter registrations.

Four years ago, the high court reviewed pandemic-inspired changes to voting rules in several states, including Pennsylvania.

In their high court filing, the state and national Republicans asked for an order to stay the state court’s ruling or, alternatively, to require that the provisional ballots be separated and not included in the official count of votes as the legal battle unfolds.

They argued that the Legislature did not provide for voters to be given a change if they make mistakes on the ballots they mailed.

The secret envelopes keep the ballots hidden while election workers open the outer stamped envelopes used to send the entire packages back. Voters must also sign and date the outer envelopes. Pennsylvania voters have requested 2 million mail-in ballots so far.

Two voters in western Pennsylvania’s Butler County have sued after the local board of elections rejected the provisional ballots they cast once they were informed of problems with the mail-in ballots.

A county judge upheld the election officials’ decisions.

Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting rules changed drastically under a 2019 law, widely expanding their use and spawning a series of lawsuits.

Most counties — but not all — help inform voters before Election Day that their mail-in ballot will be rejected, giving them the option to provisionally vote at the polls, according to the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union.